
Glass. 



Book > ^^^ i-^^^ 



1639. 



^ 




CEEDING 



LEBRATION 




250TH * ANNIVERSARY 



Settlement of Guilford, Conn,, 

SEPTEMBER 8th, 9th, and 10th, 

1 889. 



NEW HAVEN, CONN.: 
THE STAFFORD PRINTING CO., 86-90 CROWN STREET. 

1S89. 




CELEBRATION OF THE 

Two Hundred and FiFriEiH Anniversary 



SETTLEMENT OF GUILFORD, CONN., 



TOWNS OF GUILFORD AND MADISON. 



The propriety of commemorating the establishment, in 
1639, of the Plantation of Menunkatuck (now represented by 
the towns of Guilford and Madison), had been privately dis- 
cussed long before public and general action was necessary. 
Some very useful preparatory work was done in Guilford dur- 
ing the winter of [888 and 1889, by the " Halleck Circle," an 
association composed chiefly of young people. The first for- 
mal step, taken on the motion of Rev. Edmund M. Vittum, 
then pastor of the First (or North) Congregational church, is 
recorded in the following offtcial document : 

" Voted, That the Selectmen be empowered to appoint a 
committee of twelve to arrange for a suitable celebration of 
the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the settlement 
of the town of Guilford." 

The above vote was passed at the annual Town Meeting, 
held October i, 1888. Chas. H. Post, Town Clerk. 

The Selectmen (consisting of Messrs. Henry E. Parmelee, 
Henry R. Spencer and Edwin W. Bartlett), at the monthly 
meeting held in November, 1888, discharged the duty thus en- 
trusted to them. The names of the Committee of Arrange- 
ments will be found in their proper place. One of its original 



members, Mr. S. B. Chittenden, Jr. (representing, with Dr- 
Steiner, the summer residents having permanent interests in 
the town), found it impossible to serve. He resigned January 
17, 1889, and Rev. James J. Smith, pastor of St. George's 
church, was appointed by the Selectmen to fill the vacancy. 
The Committee held its first meeting at the house of Dr. 
Alvan Talcott, on Friday, December 21, 1888. The two non- 
resident members reported by letter, and of the remaining 
ten members, nine were present. Capt. Charles Griswold was 
chosen Secretary, and served until his appointment as Bank 
Commissioner compelled him to offer his resignation, August 
7, 1889. Mr. Samuel H. Chittenden, of East River, Secretary 
of the Madison Committee of Arrangements, thenceforth 
acted as Secretary of the Joint Committee. 

At the first meeting above-mentioned the date of the cele- 
bration was fixed, provisionally, on the days finally selected, 
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, September 8, 9 and 10. The 
only date preserved, relating to the time of settlement, is that 
of the Indian deed for the territory. This document was 
signed September 29, 1639, old style, corresponding to Octo- 
ber 9, new style. But it describes the purchasers as " plant- 
ers of Menunkatuck," and thus makes it probable that some 
of them were residents here, in temporary dwellings, at least 
as early as September. The exact date not being ascertaina- 
ble, the one chosen was preferred as the time of the full 
moon. 

Hon. Simeon B. Chittenden, of Brooklyn, a native of Guil- 
ford, and a summer resident, was elected President of the Day. 
His serious illness, soon to terminate fatally, made his accept- 
ance impossible, and at a later meeting Ellsworth Eliot, M.D., 
of New York, also a native of Guilford, was chosen. 

At the same meeting it was voted to ask the Selectmen to 
inform the Selectmen of Madison of the action taken in Guil- 
ford, and to request the co-operation of that town. The ap- 
pointment of sub-committees was also begun, most of the 
chairmen being taken from the Committee of Arrangements, 
in order to make communication with that body easier, and to 
ensure unity of action. Vacancies were left in each sub-com- 



mittee to be filled by residents of Madison, and the comple- 
tion of the larger ones was entrusted to the respective chair- 
men, as best qualified to select their own assistants. 

At the second meeting of the Committee of Arrangements, 
held at Dr. Talcott's, January i8, 1889, some business was 
transacted but it was thought best to postpone important 
action until the co-operation of Madison should have been 
secured. 

Madison held her first meeting March 25, and appointed 
committees to co-operate with those of Guilford, and after that 
the work went smoothly on, both towns acting in unison. A 
circular was issued on the power of both towns in April 
giving the order of exercises so far as it was then possible to 
make it out. 

Guilford by a special town meeting, held August 10, ap- 
propriated ;^r,ooo for the necessary expenses of the celebra- 
tion. The permission of the Legislature was necessary to 
ratify this measure and it was obtained through its Repre- 
sentatives, Mr. Henry E. Parmelee and Mr. George S. Davis. 
It will interest the historical student to observe the political 
change by which what was practically an independent com- 
monwealth in 1639 has now lost the power of appropriating 
money even to celebrate its own birthday. 

The Sub-Committee on Exercises held three meetings, at all 
of which every member was present. Most of the appoint- 
ments were made by the full committee, but the Chairman and 
Miss Foote were given some discretionary power as to alter- 
native appointments. The programme, as finally approved by 
the Committee at its last meeting (held August 27), was car- 
ried out in nearly every particular. 

In the selection of writers and speakers the primary consid- 
eration was that of nativity or ancestry. It was assumed that 
among those thus connected with Guilford or Madison there 
would be no difficulty in finding persons well qualified for the 
various tasks to be performed, while the towns had no equally 
strong claim upon the services of any but natives or their de- 
scendants. It was felt, however, that the duty of giving the 



Ecclesiastical History of Madison could be entrusted to no 
one with such propriety as Mr. Gallup, the pastor for nearly a 
quarter of a century of the oldest Church in that town, and 
that the reading of extracts from Halleck's "Connecticut" 
would be better done by Dr. Steiner than anyone else. Mrs. 
Steiner was the daughter of Mr. Ralph D. Smith, the Histo- 
rian of Guilford, and their son, Bernard Steiner, gave one of the 
Historical Addresses. 

There was no thought of attempting to secure within the 
limits of time to which such a programme must be confined 
an adequate exhibition of the collective life of these communi- 
ties for two centuries and a half. Nor was it felt that we could 
reasonably ask busy men, generally not residents, to under- 
take the laborious task of minute investigation, though some 
work of this nature was done, and its results appear in these 
pages. Speakers were invited to dwell chiefly on the points 
which interested them most, in the belief that by this method 
that which has the greatest interest for the largest number 
would be likely to receive some attention. And as we were to 
celebrate the settlement of the original town, it was the period 
of settlement and the lives of the Founders in which interest 
centered. Events, institutions, families and individuals be- 
came, for this occasion, objects of more or less consideration 
in virtue not so much of their intrinsic importance as of their 
relation to the earliest Colonial times. Some notable events, 
like the Civil War, and some distinguished men, like Fitz- 
Greene Halleck, belonging to later periods, necessarily had a 
prominent place. But very much which historians of Guil- 
ford and Madison would be obliged to bring into the fore- 
ground vvas thrown into the background or lost sight of alto- 
gether. We were occupied first, and chiefly, with Guilford, 
the ancient Guilford, which covered the whole territory and 
knew neither political or ecclesiastical divisions. We wanted 
to see Henry Whitfield; to stand face to face with him and 
his companions, and observe how they looked, and spoke, and 
acted. The influence of this efitbrt to reproduce our Primitive 
Age and the generation nearest to it was noticeable every- 
where; in the marking of houses simply because they had 



stood for a century or more, to the entire neglect of more at- 
tractive, and convenient, and desirable residences which might 
have been built beside them; in the marking of the home lots 
of the settlers, in utter disregard of existing line fences and 
titles; in the antique costumes at the Reception; in the most 
striking and picturesque features of the Procession; in the 
exhibition of relics; in the colonial salute of six guns at sun- 
rise on Tuesday, for the six towns of the New Haven colony, 
and the national salute, not of forty-two guns but of thirteen, 
at sunset, for the thirteen states which formed the nation a 
hundred years ago. 

Such a study of the past helps us to understand the pres- 
ent and to prepare for the future. As thoughtful persons 
listened, for example, to the three papers read on Tuesday 
morning they could hardly fail to receive a more vivid impres- 
sion of a continuous life uniting successive generations. The 
men and women who made such sacrifices for their country 
in 1 86 1 and the years which followed seemed like a re-embod- 
iment of the strong souls to whom the harder sacrifice of 
country itself was possible in 1639. The brief glimpses of 
the long intervening period, given in the second paper, showed 
the same moral and spiritual forces to have been dominant 
throughout. And the three chapters of the story, showing 
the best elements of character to have been preserved almost 
unimpaired for more than two hundred years, proved the pos- 
sibility and strengthened the obligation of transmitting this 
inheritance to the generations which will follow. 

The Connecticut Historical Society sent the following rep- 
resentatives, of whom all but Dr. Pynchon (detained at the 
last moment) were present: Henry Barnard, L.L. D., Charles 
J. Hoadly, L L. D., Rev. Thomas R. Pynchon, D. D., Prof. 
Samuel Hart, D. D., and Mr. F"rank F. Starr. 

The New London County Historical Society sent Mr, John 
M Ginley as its representative. 

Members of the New Haven Colony Historical Society and 
of the American Historical Association were also in attend- 
ance. 

Professors George P. Fisher, D. D , Franklin B. Dexter and 



8 

Thomas R. Lounsbury of Yale University, Professors Samuel 
Hart, D.D., and Charles Fredericjc Johnson of Trinity College 
were present, and a message of regret was received from Wes- 
leyan University. 

Hon. Joseph R. Hawley, United Sates Senate; Hon. Sam- 
uel C. Merwin, Lieutenant Governor (representing the Gov- 
ernor); Hon. W. F. Willcox, Member of Congress for this 
district, and Hon. Andrew C. Bradley, Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, represented dif- 
ferent departments of the National and State Governments. 

The Selectmen of New Haven were present in a body. 

The following resolutions were adopted at the meeting of 
the Committee held September 19, 1889: 

Whereas, The Rev. Lorenzo T. Bennett, D. D., member 
of the Committee on Invitations, and most thoughtful and 
active in the performance of his duties in that capacity, until 
the work of his committee was substantially finished, died 
very suddenly, less than a week before the celebration began, 
without enjoying the unselfish pleasure he would have felt in 
the result of his work, and the removal of his anxieties, 

Resolved, That we hereby record our thankfulness for the 
services which Dr. Bennett rendered in our recent undertak- 
ing, services the more noteworthy, for his having nearly 
reached the age of eighty-four, and also our sorrow, shared by 
all his townsmen and all who knew him, at a death which, in 
spite of his more than four score years, seemed untimely. 

Resolved, That we hereby offer to his family the assurance 
of our sympathy in their grief, as well as in the abundance of 
their comfort. 



Whereas, Our associate, Mr. George W. Bunnell, a member 
of the Committee of Arrangements for Madison, after having 
by his presence at our consultations, and his judicious sug- 
gestions when present, shown both his hearty interest in the 
celebration, and his ability to contribute to its success, was 
suddenly removed by death. 

Resolved, That we hereby express our sympathy with his 
family, and our happiness in the assurance that they find 
comfort in the remembrance of his useful Christian life. 



It was also 

Resolved, That the hearty thanks of the two committees are 
hereby tendered, in behalf of the people of Guilford and Mad • 
ison, to the speakers who contributed so "effectively to the suc- 
cess of the celebration, and to those who presided on the suc- 
cessive days, recognizing with particular pleasure their willing 
response to the claim upon their services, made in the name 
of the original Guilford. 

Resolved, That we warmly acknowledge the kindness of 
those who added to the enjoyment of the late celebration by 
giving us the benefit of rare musical gifts and culture. 

Resolved, That sincere thanks are due to the First Ecclesi- 
astical Society, in which the religious organization of the 
Founders is perpetuated, for the use of their church edifice 
during the three days of the celebration. 

Resolved, That the hearty co-operation of the people of the 
two towns, as well as of others connected with them by various 
ties, in untiring labors, and in contributions to the tables, to 
the exhibition of relics, to the procession, to the decorations, 
to the music, in money or other ways, forms one of the pleas- 
antest features of the celebration, and was the chief element 
in its success. 



COMMITTEES. 



GENERAL COMMITTEE. 



Rev. W. G. ANDREWS, D. D., Chairman. 
Samuel H. Chittenden, Sec'y. Lewis R. Elliot, Treasurer. 



Guilford. 
Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D., 
Charles Griswold, 
Rev. Geo. W. Banks, 
Rev. J. J. Smith, 
Alvan Talcott, M. D., 
/Lewis H. Steiner, M. D., 
Lewis R. Elliot, 
R. L. Fowler, 
' S. W. Landon, 
E. Walter Leete, 
Edwin W. Bartlett, 
Baldwin C. Dudley. 



Madison. 
N. T. Bushnell, 
S. H. Chittenden, 
H. B. Wilcox. 
John H. Meigs, 
B. B. Munger, 
Jason Dudley, 
M. A. Wilcox, 
W. D. Whedon, 
Anson Norton, 
Geo. W. Bunnell, 
James R. Dowd, 
Frank C. Bartlett, 
Alfred B. Scranton. 



1 1 



SPECIAL COMMITTEES. 



EXERCISES. 

Rev. W. G. ANDREWS, D. D., Chairman. 
Gtiilford. Madison. 

Miss Kate Foote, N. T. Bushnell, 

John R. Rossiter, Rev. Jas. A. Gallup. 



Guilford. 
John Beattie. 



FINANCE. 

LEWIS R. ELLIOT, Chairman. 



Madison. 
\. Lee Scranton, 
N. T. Bushnell. 



INVITATIONS. 

Rev. GEO. W. BANKS, Chairman. 



Guilford. 
Rev. L. T. Bennett, D. D. 



Aladison. 
Samuel IL Chittenden. 



HOSPITALITY. 



R. L. FOWLER, Chairman. 



Guilford. 
John W. Norton, 
Mrs. Thomas H. Landon, 
Jerome Coan, 
Mrs. R. L. Fowler, 
Mrs. John W. Norton, 
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Hall, 

Walter W. Wilcox, 



Madison. 
Judge H. B. Wilco.\, 
John H. Meigs, 
Anson Norton, 
J. Myron Hull, 
Horace B. Hunter, 
S. Arthur Scranton, 
Ralph J. Buell, 



12 



Guilford. 
Mr. & Mrs. George Carter, 
" " Francis Dudley, 
" " Daniel R. Stencer, 
" " Henry Chittenden, 
" " Richard Wilcox, 
" " George W. Seward, 
" " Ralph Parker, 
" " Joel Griswold, 
" " Richard Leete, 
" " Arthur Fowler, 

George B. Spencer, 
" " Owen Cunningham, 
" " Frank Beattie, 
" " Richard Bartlett, 
" •' Jerome Coan, 

Henry Griswold, 

" " Erastus Dudley, 

" " Luzerne Rossiter, 

" Edwin Bartlett, 

'• Fayette Rossiter, 

" " WiLBERT Potter. 



Madison. 

James H. Bradley, 

Timothy A. Dowd, 

Webster D. Whedon, 

Geo. M. Crampton, 

Geo. B. Munger, 

Payson W. Tucker, 

Joel M. Hill, 

Washington Bristol, 

Jas. R. Dowd, 

Nehemiah Burr, 

Joseph M. Brannan, 

Mrs. F. T. Dowd, 

" Webster D. 'Whedon, 
" O. D. Redfield, 
" E. G. Norton, 
" Edward E. Meigs, 

Miss Katherine Scranton, 
" Lizzie Scranton, 
" Mamie Meigs, 
" A. N. Jasmine, 
" Jessie Wilcox, 
" Mabel Munger, 
" Lottie Meigs, 
" Mamie Scranton, 
" Belle Watrous, 
' Carrie Leete, 
" Clara Dowd. 



MUSIC. 



B. C. DUDLEY, Chairman. 
Guilford. Madison. 

H. E. Fowler, E. B. Field, 

E. R. Moody, Joel M. Hill, 

Clifford Bishop, Almon Miner, 

Rev. S. G. Neal. Alfred B. Scranton. 



DECORATIONS. 

S. W. LAN DON, Chairman. 



Guilford. 
H. S. Wkdmore, 
Mrs. Scott Bryan, 
Miss Kate B. Dudley, 
Samuel G. Hubbard, 
Miss Mamie Dailey, 
Clifford F. Bishop, 
Howard Williams, 
Mrs. Wm. H. Elliot, 
E. M. Leete, 
S. A. Richards. 



Madison. 
Daniel H. Scran ton, 
George B. Munger, 
J. Myron Hull, 
Wilson B. Coe, 
Miss Fannie Fiske. 



Guilford. 

J. T. WiLDMAN, 



Guilford. 
Hart Landon, 



PRINTING. 

CHARLES GRISWOLD, Chairman. 



Madison. 
James R. Meigs. 



PROCESSION. 

WM. H. lee. Chairman. 



Madison. 
J. Samuel Scranton. 



RELICS. 

E. WALTER LEETE, Chairman. 



Guilfor d. 
Mrs. James M. Hunt, 

" Lottie Foote 

" George S. Davis, 
Miss Mary H. Shepard, 

" Elizabeth M. Elliot, 

" Hattie Seward, 
Mrs. Edgar F. Rossiter, 
Miss Amy F. Bartlett, 
Miss Annette A. Fowler,"! Com. on 
Bernard C. Steiner, j Catalogue 



Madison. 
Miss Frances G. Bushnell, 
George Munger, 
Jason Dudley, 
Henry E. Stone, 
Webster D. Whedon, 
Mrs. Anson Norton. 



Guilford. 
C. H. Post 
S. A. Richards. 



H 



TRANSPORTATION. 

II. S. WEDMORE, Chairman. 

Madison. 
S. H. Chittenuen. 



RECEPTION. 

H. W. SPENCER, Chairman. 
Frank Knowles, 
George S. Davis. 



HISTORIC SITES. 

HENRY R. SPENCER, Chairman. 
Miss Mary G. Robinson, 

" Elizabeth M. Leete, 
Wallace D. Norton, 
Bernard C. Steiner. 



TICKETS. 

GEORGE B. SPENCER, Chairman. 

W. A. Benton, 

George L. Griswold. 



Guilford. 
George Landon, 
Walter Steiner, 
Ernest Fowler, 
Howard Kingsbury, 
Thos H. Landon, Jr. 



INFORMATION. 

JOHN W. BANKS, Chairman. 

Madison. 
S. R. Crampton, 
Jos. S. Scranton, 
C. H. Whedon. I^' 



PUBLICATION. 

SAMUEL H. CHITTENDEN, Chairman. 

Miss Kate Foote. 
H. S. Wedmore. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES. 



SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th. 

10:30 A. M. 
Congregational Church, Madison (once East Guilford). 
MUSIC— Organ Voluntary . . . Miss M. E. Ficla 

DOXOLOGY .... Choir and Congregation 

INVOCATION ... . . Rev. J. A. Gallup 

HYMN 93 — "Songs of the Sanctuary" . Choir and Congregation 

READING OF THE SCRIPTURES— From a Bible 300 years old, being 
a version by Theodore Beza, the friend and successor of Calvin; now 
owned by Samuel S. Meigs, an heirloom through the Stone family. 
SOLO — "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" . Mrs. Whitney 

PRAYER . . . Rev. A. C. Dennison. Middlefield, Conn. 

HYMN 1309. 
MORNING OFFERING— Offertory Duet, sung by 

Mrs. Whitney and Mr. Bushnell 

ORIGINAL POEM— "The Puritan Sabbath" 

By George A. Wilcox, Detroit, Mich. 

SERMON— "Ecclesiastical History of East Guilford" 

Rev. J. A. Gallup, Pastor 

SOLO . . . . . . . Mr. Bushnell 

HYMN 1312. 

BENEDICTION .... Rev. B. G. Northrup 

Singing led by Church Choir, assisted by Mr. Hunt, Cornetist; Mrs. 
F. P. Whitney of Boston, Soprano, and Mr. C. J. Bushnell of New York, 
Baritone. 

2:30 P. M. 

First Congregational Church, Guilford. 
VOLUNTARY— OflTertoire in F minor, Batiste . E. Moody 

INVOCATION ..... Rev. Mr. Mcintosh 

SOLO — "Jesus Lover of My Soul" . . . Mrs. Whitney 

RESPONSIVE READING— Psalm cxlvi., (Nos. 39 and 40). 



i6 

SOLO— "O, Rest in the Lord" . . . C. J. Bttslnicll 

READING OF THE SCRIPTURES— Deuteronomy viii. 

DUET . . . . Mrs. Whitney and Mr. Ihishnell 

PRAYER ..... Rev. James A. Gallup 

HYMN 935— (Book of Praise.) 

HISTORICAL SERMON . Pnfarcd by A\v. C. L. Kitchcll, New Haven 

SOLO— "But the Lord is Mindful of His Own" . Mrs. Whitney 

PRAYER ..... Rev. George W. Banks 

HYMN 392. 

BENEDICTION. 

Singing b}' Choirs of Guilford, assisted by Mrs. Whitney and Mr. 
Bushnell. 

7:30 P. M. 

First Church, Guilford. 
VOLUNTARY— Communion in E minor, Batiste . E. Moody 

PRAYER ...... Rev. E. C. Starr 

HYMN 949 — (Book of Praise; tune, Burlington.) 
ADDRESS — "Education in Guilford and Madison" 

Rev. James L. Willard, D. D., Westville, Conn. 

ADDRESS — "Congregational Ministers" 

Rez'. Charles E. Sfoiuc, Hartford, Conn. 
HYMN 723 ..... Choir and Congregation 

ADDRESS— "Other Ministers" 

Rev. Richard L. Chittenden, Paradise, Penn. 

PRAYERS ...... Rev. S. G. JVeal 

BENEDICTION. 

Rev. E. C. Starr of Cornwall, Conn., presided. 



MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th. 

3:30 p. M. 

First Church, Guilford. 
MUSIC. 

POEM— "A Legend of Sachem's Head" 

George A. Wilcox, Detroit, A/ich. 

PAPER— "On "Fitz Greene Halleck" 

J'rof. Charles Erederick Johnson, Trinity College, Hartford 

MUSIC— "America." 



17 

EXTRACTS FROM HALLECK'S "CONNECTICUT"— Read by 

Hon. Lt'iois II, Sfciiu'i; M. D., Baltii/iorc, Md. 
PAPER — "Guilford and Madison in Literature" 

Henry P. Robinson, Guilford 
MUSIC. 
Joel Benton of Amenia, N. Y., presided. 

7 TO lO P. M. 

RECEPTION — By the residents of the towns to their guests, at the house 
of Mr. John Hubbard and Miss Hubbard, Broad St. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER loth. 

SUNRISE. 
Colonial Salute of six guns, with ringing of bells. 

8 A. M. 
Procession forms at the Green (Guilford Division). 

9:30 A. M. 

Guilford and Madison Divisions begin line of march from corner of Bos- 
ton and Union Streets. 

II A. M. 

First Church, Guilford. 
MUSIC. 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS— "Guilford from 1639 to 1665" 

Prof. Samuel Hart, D. D., Trinity College, Hartford 
PAPER— "Guilford and Madison from 1665 to 1861 " 

Bernard C. Steiner, Baltimore, Md. 
PAPER — "Guilford and Madison in the Civil War; Town Action" 

Miss Kate Foote, Guilford 

12:30 P. M. 
Dinner. 

2 P. M. 

MUSIC— "Red, White and Blue" .... Band 

SHORT SPEECHES— i9j/ Sidney W. Leete of Guilford, Ellsjuorth Idiot, 

M. D., of Ne-w York, Gen. Joseph R. Ilawley, United States Senate; Joel 



i8 

Benton, Aincnia, N. V. ; Hon. S. E. Merwin, IJcutenanl Goi'crnor; 
Jndi^e Andrew C. Bradley of Washington, D. C, Henry A. Barnard, 
LL. D., of Hartford. 

3:30 P. M. 
First Church, Guilford. 
MUSIC— "Eia Mater," from D'Vorak's "Stabat Mater." 
ADDRESS— "Whitfield and Higginson" .... 

Col. Thomas IVentworth Higginson, Cambridge, Jl/ass. 

MUSIC— "Jerusalem, the Golden" .... Band 

ADDRESS— "Other Founders" ..... 

Prof. Ullliam R. Dudley, Cornell University, Ithaea, N'. Y. 
MUSIC— "America." 
ADDRESS— "Distinguished Natives of Guilford and Madison" 

Rev. fohn E. Todd, D. £>., New Haven 

MUSIC— "Magnolia" ..... Band 

SUNSET, 
National Salute of thirteen guns, with ringing of bells. 

Instrumental Music on Tuesday by Colt's First Regiment Band of 

Hartford. 

Ellsworth Eliot, M. D., of New York will preside on Tuesday. 



The exercises of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniver- 
sary of the Settlement of Guilford began on Sunday morning, 
September 8, 1889, by public services in the Congregational 
church in Madison, formerly East Guilford. Many from 
Guilford and North Madison, and many ex-resident descend- 
ants, united with the people of Madison in this service, com- 
pletely filling the spacious meeting house with a deeply 
interested audience. The church was approprately decorated 
with mottoes and flowers. Among the former was an Eccle- 
siastical Genealogical Tree, in the pulpit recess, showing the 
Guilford First Church Trunk, and all the branches which have 
sprung therefrom, giving their names, dates and order of forma- 
tion. The painting was six feet by eight. The design was ad- 
mirably executed by Mrs. Augusta Dowd, as was also the motto 
on the face of the side gallery, consisting of the Coat ot Arms 
of Connecticut, bordered with real grape vines, with purple 



19 

clusters, and having its appropriate inscription on a ribbon 
gracefully draped underneath, " Qui Transtnlit Snstinct" 
Opposite to this was the motto, WE ARE THE HEIRS OF 
ALL THE AGES. Across the pulpit in letters of gold, 
AULD LANG SYNE, and across the choir gallery, Wc 
Praise Thee, O God! In the vestibule over the door was the 
church's WELCOME to friends and strangers. On the right 
hand of the pulpit, in a panel upon the wall, were the names 
of all the pastors of the East Guilford church from its founda- 
tion in 1707, with the dates of service. On the left, were the 
names of all the deacons of the church. Flowers in profusion, 
tastefully arranged by the ladies, completed the decorations. 





HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 

BY 

REV. JAS. A. GALLUP. 



" For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is 
God." — Hebrews hi : 4. 

You have all doubtless seen footprints in the solid rock- 
Geology teaches us that that rock was once a soft and yield- 
ing substance, and that some bird or beast, long since dead, 
whose very species may be extinct, stepped upon that rock in 
its plastic state, and the impress of that foot was left graven 
on the rock forever. 

After the lapse of ages, science traces out the form and 
proportions of the ancient beast or bird, by these simple in- 
delible footprints. As of the rock and its footprints, so of 
society and its institutions. These bear certain marks, which 
are the footprints of a former age. By the study of these 
historic marks, we come to know the form, and proportions of 
the men, who impressed themselves upon that early and for- 
mative period. 

The men who wrought upon that plastic age are dead, but 
their sturdiness of character, for wisdom, moral uprightness, 
and a far-seeing and benevolent regard for the future, still 
lives, in the institutions they planted. 

By a careful study of these footprints, we come to know the 
men, whom we honor as the fathers and founders of our cher- 
ished institutions, in Church and State. In the nobility of 
their spirit and the grandeur of their work, they still live 
among us. 

Generations come and go ; the centuries open and close ; 
but these institutions, with their rock foundations of personal 
liberty and personal responsibility, go on forever. 



21 

Such builders are immortal in their works, which follow 
them, and by which, they being dead, yet speak. They 
stamped their own lineaments upon the age in which they 
lived, and each succeeding age transmits the life it has re- 
ceived, re-enforced by what itself has wrought, to its successor; 
thus the fathers and the children are bound together by 
an electric bond of sympathetic life. " Every house is builded 
by some man." The house is a comprehensive term, denoting 
not only the building which shelters us, but the people who 
are sheltered by the building, or the household, and also the 
institutions which nurture and develop life, in its divers forms 
of activity and enjoyment. 

Architecture, in substance and type, runs through all lan- 
guage. It builds up men, society, governments and institu- 
tions. Our fathers were builders in the broadest and most 
multiform sense. In all their building, they recognize the 
twofold agency of the text, the human and the Divine. 

" Every house is builded by some man." It didn't happen; 
it was not produced by chance ; it didn't build itself, by some 
mysterious and hidden law of development. It was built by 
an agency from without, by some man, who had the genius to 
plan, the will to execute, and the energy to accomplish the 
work. The wisdom, design, skill and magnificence of the 
house our fathers built, and we inherit, show an intelligent 
cause. Every room in this house, bears the marks of a builder. 
Taste, judgment, sagacity, sense and sentiment, are in the 
houses we build, as footprints in the rock. 

To this human agency, of brain, heart, muscle and nerve, 
which plans, believes and builds, they added a Divine Archi- 
tect, who presides over and directs all. They believed in God 
as the Director of events, and the Guide of men and their 
actions. 

Our thoughts go back to-day to the builders of two and a 
half centuries ago, who on these shores and amid these wilds, 
built for themselves and their posterity, a home, a school, a 
store, a shop, a State, a Church. 

We meet to-day under circumstances of peculiar interest. 
Two hundred and fifty years are no inconsiderable part of the 
world's history. If we reckon this period, not by the mathe- 



22 

rnatics of the earth's movements, but by the movements of 
events that have transpired on the face of the earth, we shall 
find they measure an important section of the world's prog- 
ress, in civilization, discovery, invention, the arts, science, 
education, statecraft and religion. If we confine the outlook 
of these centuries to the rise and progress of our own coun- 
try, from the choice, sifted seed, planted here and there in the 
wilderness, to the magnificent harvests of material wealth, 
political grandeur, population, and general prosperity, which 
fill the land, from ocean to ocean, with throbbing life, we shall 
find abundant cause for exuberant thanksgiving, to the men 
who laid so well and heroically the foundations of our many- 
roomed house, and to the Divine Architect who inspired the men 
to build even wider and wiser than they knew, and who superin- 
tended their work. A small section of the work of the fathers 

» 

in its beginning and progress, is given us for our study this 
morning; and of this section we are to confine ourselves 
chiefly to the House of God, or the Church, as the early and 
central life, which gave form and force to all the rest. 

In sketching the Ecclesiastical or Church History of East 
Guilford, I am disposed to adopt the unusual, and it may seem 
illogical course, of making the last first and the first last. 
This is the order of life and experience. We begin with our- 
selves, then go out to others, and back to our ancestors. Ex- 
plorers first find the river and then its source. There are four 
Churches in the town of Madison (formerly East Guilford): 
the Congregational and Methodist Episcopal in the southern 
part, the Congregational Church in North Madison (originally 
North Bristol), and the Methodist Episcopal Church in Rock- 
land, or Black Rock District. These Churches are all sup- 
plied with Pastors at present and doing an honorable and 
fairly successful work. The two Congregational Churches 
were organized during the last Century — one at the beginning 
of the Century, the other near the middle. The Methodist 
Episcopal Churches were organized the present Century — one 
at the beginning, the other near the middle. The life of these 
Churches has been continuous, with only such changes as 
have been due to local circumstances. 

If I speak first and chiefly of this church it will be because 



23 

of its greater antiquity, and in some sense greater prominence 
in the early history of this section and because I am more 
familiar with its record. The North Madison Church will 
have a more detailed history, by their pastor, Rev. W. E. B. 
Moore. The pastorates in the M. E. Churches have gen- 
erally been so brief that no adequate measure can be made 
of the men or their work upon the community at large. The 
history of this Church is so unique that I may group its 182 
years' existence around its six pastors, who have filled out 
this period. 

The first four of these pastorates cover a period of 149 
years, including the short intervals between, which have usu- 
ally been but a few months, in one instance only over a year. 
The four pastors were ordained here, died in ofifice and were 
buried in the West Cemetery. Only one of the four lived to 
be over fifty-seven years of age. 

Of the remaining two pastorates, that of Mr. Fisk lacked a 
little of seven years, being cut short by his death in the army. 
My own lacks one year of a quarter of a century. I came 
to this office in October, 1865, from a similar service of over 
eleven years in the neighboring town of Essex. My installa- 
tion took place November 2, 1865. Rev. S. McCall preached 
the Sermon, Dr. Badger gave the Charge, and Rev. Elijah 
Baldwin the Right Hand of Fellowship. I found here a 
church large in numbers, well instructed in Christian doctrine, 
steadfast in faith, and zealous of good works. Its member- 
ship from the first has been made up largely of those descend- 
ants of the early settlers, who have grown up in the parish, of 
American stock and of the true New England spirit. 

The past twenty-four years have been characterized by great 
changes in the political and religious world as well as in the 
industrial and social life of the people. It has been the era 
of reconstruction in our national life, of extension of territory, 
overwhelming immigration, great labor agitations, marvelous 
inventions, and railway advancement. It has also been 
marked by a great increase in the spirit of missions and in 
gospel evangelization. Unbelief has not been inactive, either 
in its gross forms of infidelity, after the Thomas Paine school, 



24 

or the more subtle and refined forms, under the guise of Scien- 
tific Philosophy. This insidious leaven has made itself felt in 
our quiet community as well as in the cities. We have 
endeavored during this period to keep up the life and growth 
of our branch of the Ecclesiastical tree to its full proportion 
and to carry forward the work begun here by the fathers and 
the mothers in Israel. This house has been enlarged, entirely 
reconstructed in the interior and refurnished throughout. An 
organ has been supplied and a chapel built. All these im- 
provements, together with more recent outlays in painting, 
have been at an expense of ^19,000.00 or over, all of which 
has been paid, leaving no debt. We maintain the usual 
Church services on the Sabbath and two regular prayer meet- 
ings during the week, one under the care of the Young Peo- 
ple's Society of Christian Endeavor, which now numbers on 
its roll about seventy members. Our Sunday School and 
Mission work keep pace with the life of the Church. 

Several revivals during this period have greatly refreshed 
and quickened the people of God, and brought many into the 
fold of the Church. In 1866, ninety were added to the 
Church; in 1871, twenty-one were received; in 1874, sixteen; 
in 1876, thirty-nine; in 1878, nine; in 1879, six; in 1882, 
thirty-seven; in 1885, fifty-seven. Others have been received 
in the intervening years, making a total of 363 received into 
the Church during this period. During the same time, 200 
members have died. 

I have, during my pastorate here, united in marriage 169 
couples, and attended over 500 funerals. 

We as a town suffer greatly, — in common with all rural 
towns of New England, — from the loss of our young men 
who go to the cities and manufacturing villages for employ- 
ment, leaving only the elderly people and vacant houses 
behind, and as a consequence, a waning census from decade 
to decade. 

We chronicle as a somewhat new feature of Madison life, 
the advent of cottages along our splendid beach, already half 
a hundred or more in number, and each year increasing, and 
destined to make the town famous as a seaside resort. This, 



25 

and the revival of ship-building, are two hopeful signs in our 
quiet life. 

You would not forgive me if I failed to mention " Lee's 
Academy," established in 1821, and having on its roll many- 
honorable names as teachers and pupils. This institution, 
remembered with interest by many, has passed into the hands 
of the Centre District, and is undergoing repairs to fit it for 
school purposes. Its place has been taken by Hand Academy, 
which has been donated to the town for high school purposes, 
and which must be to the present, and to future generations, 
what Lee's Academy has been in the past, and we hope even 
more. Leaving this quarter of a century, unequalled in the 
history of our country and the world, in its changes and pro- 
gress, by any other equal period of the two hundred and fifty 
years under review, I proceed to speak of 

THE FIFTH PASTORATE. 

This was the shortest pastorate of any the church has ever 
had, being six years, ten months and nineteen days. It was 
filled by the Rev. Samuel Fisk, whose memory is still fragrant 
with all who knew him. Mr. Fisk was born in Shelburne, 
Mass., July 23, 1828. His parents (Dea. David and Mrs. 
Laura Severance Fisk,) were of the old puritan stock. Their 
genealogy is said to run back along a line of godly families to 
the settlement of New England. His boyhood is spoken of 
by those familiar with his early life as characterized by the 
same genial disposition and brightness which marked his later 
years. When ill health kept him from school, he easily kept 
up with his classes, by study at home, 3 id usually had some 
extra study in hand, by his mother's spinning wheel. He 
graduated at Amherst College in 1844, with the second honor 
of his class. He studied theology at Andover, Mass., and was 
afterwards a tutor at Amherst for three years. During this 
time, he frequently preached in the college and in the neigh- 
boring churches. His small stature and youthful appearance 
gained for him the soubriquet of " the boy preacher." In 
1855, he traveled abroad, visiting most of the countries of 
Europe, together with Egypt and Palestine, remaining some 



26 

months in Paris and Germany for study. His letters while 
abroad, under the title of " Dunn Brown's Experiences in 
Foreign Parts," sparkled with wit and quaint pleasantry, and 
together with a companion volume, " Dunn Jkown in the 
Army," still form most entertaining books for leisure hour 
reading. On his return home, he was invited to preach in 
this church, and was soon after called to the pastorate, made 
vacant by the death of Rev. Mr Shepard, a short time pre- 
vious. This call he accepted, and was ordained and installed 
June 3, 1857. The sermon on the occasion was preached by 
the Rev. John Todd, D. D., the charge was made by the Rev. 
Burdette Hart, and the right hand of fellowship by the Rev, 
Henry Wicks. 

As a man, Mr. Fisk was characterized by great simplicity, 
geniality, ready wit, and genuine ability. He made for him- 
self a warm place in every circle. His good cheer carried 
sunshine wherever he went. No man could be his enemy. 
His overflowing charity, and quaint pleasantry parried every 
hostility, and made those who might differ with him, love 
him, in spite of themselves. As an instance of his sharp 
pleasantry, it is related of him that on one occasion when 
visiting a school where great disorder prevailed, he remarked 
at the close of the exercises — as visitors are accustomed to 
do — upon the prevailing disorder, and then, as if to soften, 
and at the same time intensify, the severity of his rebuke, he 
said : " On the whole, this school is the most quiet and 
orderly and satisfactory of the ten schools I have visited, 
except niney 

As a scholar, his perception was quick, his grasp of a sub- 
ject or author, clear and comprehensive, his memory retentive, 
and his method of expression and action entirely original. 

Of him as a man, a citizen, a pastor and preacher, I need 
not speak in the presence of so many in whose memory his 
life and character are embalmed. 

When the Rebellion broke out in war upon the Union, his 
own patriotic spirit was deeply stirred. He resolved at length 
to leave home, friends and his church and join the army in 
the field. He enlisted as a private in Co. I, of the 14th Regi- 



27 

ment of Conn. Volunteers, and was mustered into the service 
August 23, 1862. He was chosen 2d Lieut, then ist Lieut., 
and afterwards Captain of Company G, which office he held 
until his death. In the army, he was the same cheerful, witty, 
brave, helpful and heroic man, that characterized him in every 
situation. His nearly two years' service in the war are a mat- 
ter of public record, patriotic devotion and highest honor. 
In the first of the great battles of the Wilderness, he fell, 
mortally wounded, while rallying his company to meet the 
furious charge of the enemy. He was taken to the hospital at 
Fredericksburg, and his family summoned. After lingering a 
few days, at the close of the holy Sabbath, May 22, 1864, he 
passed through the pearly gates, and was forever at rest. His 
eventful life of nearly thirty-six years was at an end. His 
remains were brought here, where funeral services were held, 
and a sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Eustis, then of 
New Haven ; after which under an escort of a committee of 
the church, they were taken to Shelburne Falls, his native 
place, in whose beautiful cemetery he desired to be buried by 
the side of his kindred of many generations. 

Thus ended the life of a rare man, — as a friend, scholar, wit, 
writer, preacher and soldier. During his absence in the war, 
his pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Mr. Loper. Mr. Fisk 
took a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of his flock, not a 
few of whom he guided to the Savior. During his brief min- 
istry of seven years, only five cf which were spent in pastoral 
service, eighty-two were received into the church. 

THE FOURTH PASTORATE. 

Following back the stream of the historic life of this 
Church, we come next to the fourth pastor. Rev. Samuel 
Nicholas Shepard, who served in this capacity thirty years, 
ten months and twenty -eight days. 

He was born in Lenox. Mass., September 25, 1799. His 
father was the Rev. Samuel Shepard, D. D., of Lenox. He 
graduated from Williams College in 1821, studied theology in 
Auburn, N. Y., and was soon after called to the pastorate of 



28 

this church. He was ordained and installed November 2, 
1825. The Sermon on the occasion was preached by Dr. 
Samuel Shepard, the Charge to the Pastor was given by Rev. 
Frederick W. Hotchkiss, and the Right Hand of Fellowship 
by Rev. Zalva Whitmore. Mr. Shepard was a man of strong 
individuality and independence of character. He was positive 
in his opinions and fearless in the enunciation of them. As 
a preacher he was earnest, forcible and practical. His ser- 
mons were vigorous in thought, original in style and forcible 
in delivery. The truth he preached to others he deeply felt 
himself He was often moved to tears, while he spoke with 
great tenderness and often with captivating eloquence. He 
had the ready and happy faculty of adapting himself to every 
occasion. His prayers in the sanctuary, on funeral and other 
occasions, are spoken of as remarkable for their warmth, felicity 
of expression and adaptation to circumstances. As a pastor, 
he was kind and sympathetic; as a citizen, public spirited and 
deeply interested in all public improvements, many of which 
still remain, the fruits of his labors. His death was sudden 
and affecting. On the Sabbath he preached with his usual 
spirit and power; on Monday he was slightly indisposed; on 
Tuesday he was seized with violent pains in his head, and soon 
after became unconscious, and about three o'clock in the 
afternoon (September 30, 1856) he died, at the age of fifty- 
seven years. His funeral was attended in this house. Rev. 
A. C. Baldwin preached the sermon, which was published, 
and his remains were buried in the West Cemetery with those 
of his three predecessors in office. 

Several revivals of great power attended his ministry. In 
1827 one hundred and one united with the church. In 1831 
sixty-four were added; in 1843 one hundred and three were 
received; the whole number received during his ministry was 
five hundred and two. It was during his pastorate that this 
Sanctuary was built. It was dedicated November 21, 1838. 
As so often happens, a serious controversy arose regarding the 
site of the new Meeting House. This dissatisfaction with the 
present site culminated in the withdrawal of forty-seven 
members for ihe purpose of forming a new and independent 



29 

Church. Measures were taken to build a House of Worship. 
This serious breach in the parish was finally, by mutual con- 
cessions, through the friendly advice of the congregation, 
healed and harmony restored. Those who had been aggrieved 
returned, the building erected by them passed into the hands 
of the Methodist society, and has been their church home ever 
since, now nearly or quite half a century. 

As a part of the cotemporaneous Ecclesiastical history of 
Madison, I may say, the M. E. Church in this place was 
organized in 1839 by the Rev. James H. Perry. Meetings 
at first were held in private houses and school-houses, until 
the present building came into their possession. Many min- 
isters have served them during the half century, not a few of 
prominence in their denomination. Through many adversi- 
ties the Church has held bravely on. I have always found 
their pastors cordial and pleasant fellow workers. Christian 
gentlemen, earnest, and many of them, able preachers of the 
gospel. The present pastor. is the Rev. S. G. Neil. This 
branch of our Ecclesiastical tree you see springing out of our 
East Guilford or Madison history. 

The prejudice existing between religious denominations 
fifty years ago has passed away. Christian fellowship, mutual 
esteem, and fraternal co-operation have superseded the days 
of bigotry and intolerance. 

Another event of importance took place at the beginning 
of Mr. Shepard's ministry. In 1826, the year following his 
settlement, East Guilford, which had been for 187 years an 
integral part of the town of Guilford, became a separate town, 
and took the name of Madison, and set up housekeeping for 
itself, in which capacity it has lost none of its historic 
prestige. 

THE THIRD PASTORATE. 

The third pastor of this church was the Rev. John Elliott, 
D. D. 

He was born in Killingworth (now Clinton), August 24, 
1768, and was the son of Dea. George Elliott, the grandson 
of the Rev. Jared Elliott, M. D., and the great-grandson of 



30 

Rev. Joseph Elliott of Guilford. He graduated at Yale Col- 
lege in 1/86, alter which he devoted several years to teaching 
and the study of Theology. He was ordained and installed 
as pastor of this Church, November 2, 1 791, at the age of 23 
years. Rev. Achilles Mansfield preached the ordination ser- 
mon; President Styles of Yale College, gave the charge, and 
Rev. Frederick W. Hotchkiss, the right hand of fellowship. 
The Society voted to give him "as a settlement, ;^200 lawful 
money," to be paid, " one-third in cash, one-third in neat 
cattle, and one third in produce at the current market price" 
. . . " the sd. sum of two hundred pound, to be paid in 
three years from the time he settles, one-third part of each 
payment to be made annually." His salary was fixed at 
" ;^8o lawful money per annum, and 20 cords of merchantable 
oak wood." This was subsequently increased to ";^85, and 
25 cords of wood." 

Dr. Elliott made a deep impression upon the people. He 
had the dignity, gravity, sedateness, and general bearing of 
the gentleman of the olden time. He was precise in speech, 
and methodical in all his movements. 

Dr. Todd, in his autobiographical sketches, gives his im- 
pression of him as received by him when as a boy he lived 
with his uncle, Jonathan Todd, M. D., in East Guilford. He 
says : " He was a tall, very thin and slim man. His legs, 
always draped in black stockings and small clothes, seemed 
too slender to hold him up. How neatly he was always 
draped, not a spot or wrinkle on his garments I What a 
broad-brimmed hat he wore, renewed just once in two years. 
His manners and bearing were most gentlemanly. He was 
a fine scholar, a genuine lover of study, a capital preacher, a 
wise and shrewd man. How w^e boys and girls were wont to 
look upon him with awe and reverence, unable to believe that 
the common frailties of human nature hung about him." 

Prof. William C. Fowler, in a private note to me, says of 
him: "He was dignified, deferential to others, and yet very 
cordial and polite in his manners. His enunciation was dis- 
tinct but slow, and very impressive. In his public services 
he never seemed to hesitate for a word or thousrht. His 



31 

style was transparent, and his sermons written out in a clear, 
handsome hand, ready for the press. He was a good classical 
scholar, a daily reader of the Hebrew Bible." Among the 
students he fitted for college were "Jeremiah Evarts, the Field 
brothers, William Todd, Joseph Hand and Ebenezer Munger, 
Dr. Harvey Elliott and others," Prof Fowler among the num- 
ber. "He and Mr. Johnson, the father of Samuel Johnson, 
prepared a Dictionary for Schools (a copy of which is on ex- 
hibition among the relics in Guilford). He had several stu- 
dents in Theology. About the time, or a little after, the lay 
preachers in New Haven were active in the community, a Mr. 
Pease, from Vermont, came to live in East Guilford. He en- 
deavored to let his light shine. At a church meeting he 
proposed that a committee be appointed to visit the families 
in the parish, converse with them, etc. Dr. Elliott, in an im- 
pressive manner, said: 'That is ministerial; I will endeavor 
to do my duty.' That settled the matter for a time." 

Says Dr. Fitch, in the sermon preached at his funeral, he 
was "a man of distinguished prudence, of cool judgment, of 
upright constancy, affectionate kindness, of peculiar sedate- 
ness and solemnity and of pious devotion." As a preacher, 
his sermons show systematic thought, great purity and force 
of style, solemnity of movement, and often sublimity of 
thought and expression. Several sermons of his, delivered on 
public occasions, were printed and a few copies are still 
extant. His pastorate continued thirty-three years. He died 
December 17, 1824, aged 56 years. During his ministry 
several revivals of religion of great power took place. In 
1802-3 seventy were received into the church. In 1809 about 
sixty were admitted. In 1820 ninety joined the Church. Dr. 
Elliott received in all during his ministry 338. 

Dr. Elliott's standing as an able preacher and scholar was 
high among the Churches. In 1812 he was elected a fellow 
of the corporation of Yale College, and in 18 16 a member of 
the Prudential Committee of that body. In 1822 he received 
the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Under his ministry, the 
half-way Covenant Plan of Church Membership died out. 

The first record of a Sunday School occurs during Dr. 



32 

Elliott's pastorate. It is as follows: "At a Church meeting 
in May, 1820, William Hart, Deacon Meigs, Deacon Hoit, 
Timothy Dudley, Amos Bishop, Benjamin Hart and Ezra 
Smith were appointed a committee to organize the Sabbath 
School and superintend the school when organized." 

It was also during his ministry that the plan of sustaining 
the institutions of the gospel by a tax upon all residents 
within the bounds of the society, was changed to the volun- 
tary system. Dr. Elliott was so apprehensive of the failure 
of this plan that he set about raising a ministerial fund for 
the benefit of this Church and Society. This was in i8i5;at 
the end of ten years it amounted to 11,918.63. It was to be 
kept at interest until the principal should amount to ;^ 10,000, 
after which the income was to be applied towards the pay- 
ment of the pastor's salary. This became available in 1855. 

It was during Dr. Elliott's ministry that the Rockland M, 
E. church was established. Their house of worship was built 
in 1802 or 1803, but the society was formed some years before, 
services being held in the school house or in private houses. 
The present pastor, Rev. George Bennet, thinks the society 
very nearly a hundred years old. You see it represented at 
the extreme north of the East Guilford branch of our Ecclesi- 
astical tree. The record of its pastors I have not been able to 
obtain. They occupy a neighborhood remote from other 
churches, and bring the Gospel to those who might not other- 
wise be reached by it. 

Dr. Elliott was married November 3, 1792, to Sarah Nor- 
ton, daughter of Lot Norton, of Salisbury, Conn., who sur- 
vived him, and was subsequently married to Gen. Sterling. 
They had no children. 

A glance at the side lights of Dr. Elliott's day will reveal the 
spinning wheel, the loom, the cheese-press and churn in every 
house. The portrait of the busy and frugal housewife as set in 
the proverb, might be seen in every household, " She seeketh 
wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." The 
tailoress and shoemaker were yearly visitors to the home, to 
make up the family outfit. Every house had its saddle and 
pillion, and indispensable horse-block. Foot-stoves supple- 



33 

mented the wide and generous fireplace, with its pot-hooks 
and trammels. The tinder box, with its steel and flint and 
sulphur splints, and the old flint-lock musket, were the fire 
reserves of the households. The stage coach was the palace 
car of the period, and its arrival the one great event of the 
week. Coastmg vesels lined the shore, and the hills and val- 
leys teemed with busy workmen. It was the stay-at Jiomc era, 
when labor was content with honest and moderate gains, and 
simple, but genuine comforts. The village singing school 
and spelling match, the apple-parings and husking bees, 
wherein the lucky finder of the crimson ear, was awarded 
crimson" privileges, were the staple entertainments of the 
young people. The farm and the fishing net, and the country 
store furnished ample occupations for the people. If there 
were fewer comforts and luxuries, there were fewer wants 
and greater contentment and satisfaction. 

THE SECOND PASTORATE. 

Going back into the last century, we come to the Second 
Pastorate of this church, which embraced a period of fifty- 
seven years and four months. 

Rev. Jonathan Todd, the second pastor, was a native of 
New Haven, born March 20, 1713. His parents were Jona- 
than and Sarah Morrison Todd. He graduated at Yale Col- 
lege in 1732, and was ordained and installed over this church, 
October 24, 1733, when 20 years of age. Rev. Joseph Noyes 
of New Haven preached the sermon. 

Mr. Todd had the reputation of being an excellent scholar. 
He was a fine linguist, fond of .historical studies, and took a 
deep interest in scientific pursuits. He was one of the lead- 
ing clergymen of the State, in his day. As a preacher, he 
was simple, plain, discursive and instructive. " His sermons," 
says Dr. Elliott, " were not adorned with the studied orna- 
ments of language or the flowers of rhetoric ; his ideas were 
not clothed with that tinsel, which glitters, but does not en- 
lighten ; neither did he study to embellish his writings with 
round and harmonious periods, or to shine as a graceful 
orator. They were, however, replete with sentiment, with 



exhibitions of imjx"*rtant truths, with forcible arguments, solid 
i-^,-.- n\noh practical instruction. Christ Jksus. 

rfv,. . ./, w^As the sum and substance of his preach- 

ing," The following tribute tv> his memory is on the tablet 
which marks his gnu^e in the Wes^ Cemetery : " He had a 
contem|>lati\^ mind ; n^ad and thought much ; was canvlid in 
his enquiries, and in science, theolog\^ and history, had a clear 
discernment and sound judgment Singularly mild and amia- 
ble in his disposition ; clothed wnth humility and plainness. 
serene in all the occurrences of life, a friend and p.niiv>t. a 
most laborious and faithful minister, guided by the sacr^i 
or.-/.^ -nnent in pu -^ \mi ; adorning religion 

w': \c^ glory to <.- - to men." 

Dr. Field describes him, as a man of " a spare habit, with 
dark K«tel but bright eye, and cv»untenance not wanting in 
intelli^^ce, and specially marked by benignant and benev- 
olent fedings^' He also sa\^ " He did not belong to the 
stricter school v»f Calvinists» anvi it may be doubted whether, 
prx>perly speak^ -as a Calvinist." 

A wide-«prc.. uc prevaikxl in the parish in the years 

1750 and 1751. Forty-three, including many heads of fam- 
ilies, died • ^ .ar To the care of the sick and dying, 
Mr, Todd . , . so!t vlav .^r.v^. r.:c>- w::h unremitting 
fidelity. 

He cxMUinued in the ties o; : > >: . : : : e 

last \'x^ar of his litfe. li.^ .,..-,;;e was g. „,..„.. ,v.:.; ::a:-.;u-.1. 
He died FebrxiarA' ^4, i?v)i. at the age of 77 years 1 1 months 
a«Kl 4 dax^Tji. 

At his ordination, the v ■> stevi of 51 members. 

Duriiig the lirsi ii years o; - . . he recdved iato the 

Churvrh ^24. The early records 01 the Church were unkHT- 
tunau^y burned by a tine in his study. 

On the supposition that the same proportioiiate number 
w>ene receiv^ixi during the remainder <rf his ministr}% it ^arould 
make the xchc^e number reoeived by him 565. At his death, 
the Cliurch cx>nsisted of S4 members. His wite was Elisa- 
beth Couch, daughter of Samuel Couch of Fairfield, Conn. 
She died Decembiar 14. 17S5. aged 75 >>5ars. They had no 
chikinwv 



35 

THE SFXOND MKETING-HQUSE, 

Soon after Mr. Todd's settlement, a movement was made 
to build a new Meeting-House. After two years spent in 
controversy over the site, during which a Council was called, 
and a committee from the General Assembly sent to locate 
the proposed building, it was finally decided to place it near 
the site of the first Mccting-House, which stood near, or a 
little south of the present east entrance to the Green, The 
entire Center was then an open common, crossed by roads, 
dotted over with Sabbath-Day houses, sharing its accommo- 
dations with a tannery and an alder swamp. The new 
Mceting-House was dedicated in May, 1743. Many of you 
remember well that venerable structure, which for nearly a 
hundred years was the Sabbath resort of the people. In this 
house, for nearly half a century, the people listened to the 
plain, practical, and instructive sermons of Pastor Todd, and 
afterwards, for a third of a century, to the solemn, majestic 
and impressive sermons of Dr. Elliott, and for over thirteen 
years to the fervid eloquence of Shepard, to whom it was 
given to preach its farewell. The clock was transferred to the 
steeple of the present house, where for more than a half 
century it has continued to mark the passing hours of the 
living, and the closing hours of the dead, as it had done per- 
haps a half century before in the former Meeting-house. In 
1801, a bell was added, which supplanted the drum, in calling 
together the worshippers. This bell is still in service in the 
church in North Madison, — the same in metal and orthodox 
tone, though recast, because cracked in a baptism of fire 
which consumed the steeple. The old plan of " dignifying '' 
the Meeting-House by assigning seats, according to age and 
the grand list, prevailed in this house, and also of separating 
the sexes, dividing thus even families. 

THE CHURCH IN NORTH MADISON. 

It was during Mr. Todd's pastorate that the people in the 
north part of the parish (now North Madison) became a Soci- 
ety and a Church. December 3, 1744, they requested 
"liberty to have winter preaching among themselves," and 



36 

December 5, 1748, they petitioned "for leave to be a winter 
parish," and March 5, 1752, they asked liberty "to set up 
public worship of God among themselves, as a distinct Soci- 
ety." This request was granted. A new Society was formed 
under the name of North Bristol, and its bounds defined by 
act of General Assembly May, 1753. The Church "embod- 
ied" by subscribing to a covenant and articles of faith March 
23, 1757- It is, therefore, now 132 years old. It has had 
seven pastors installed from 1757 to 1840. These were Rich- 
ard Ely, Simeon Backus, John Ely, David Metcalf, Jared 
Andrus, Stephen Hayes and Amos Le Favor. Since that 
time they have had fifteen stated supplies, or acting pastors, 
the shortest of whose term was three months and the longest 
nine years. The present pastor is Rev. William E. B. Moore, 
who began his ministry there in April, 1885. The present 
membership of the church is ninety-nine. 

The period now under review covers a most important era 
in the history of the country. It is the great ivar period. It 
includes the French and Indian war, the most important of 
the Colonial wars, the Revolutionary war, from the battle of 
Lexington in 1775 to the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781, and 
the cessation of hostilities in 1783. It witnessed the Decla- 
ration of Independence; the successful termination of the war; 
the treaty of peace; the adoption of the constitution; the first 
congress, and the inauguration of George Washington as the 
first President of the United States. Events that seem far 
distant to us, but their footprints are all around us to-day and 
help to make this anniversary possible and jubilant. 

THE FIRST PASTORATE. 

One more step backward in this Historical Review brings 
us to the First Pastor, the Rev. John Hart, a native of Farm- 
ington. Conn., who was born April 12, 1682. He entered 
Cambridge College and continued there three years. In 1702 
he removed to Say brook and became the sole member of the 
Senior Class of Yale College, then in its infancy. The fol- 
lowing year (1703) he graduated and was the first regular 
graeiiiate of the College. Degrees previously conferred were 
honorary. 



37 

Soon after graduation Mr. Hart was elected tutor of the 
College, which office he held for several years, during which 
time he was licensed to preach, and as early as the winter of 
1705 he preached to the newly formed society of East Guil- 
ford. In June, 1706, he was invited to settle. In November, 
1707, the same day on which the Church was organized, he 
was ordained and installed. He continued in this office till 
his death, March 4, 1731, in the twenty-fourth year of his 
ministry and in the forty-ninth year of his age. Mr. Hart is 
represented to have been a minister of decided ability as a 
student and sermonizer. As a preacher, he was forcible, clear, 
earnest, persuasive and spiritual. He was a man of great 
prudence, geniality and circumspection. Rev. Mr. Chaun- 
cey of Durham describes him as "one endowed with a large 
treasure of natural ability, quickness of invention, clearness 
of thought, soundness of judgment and great strength of 
reason. His preaching was powerful, sweet and persuasive. 
The graces of the Christian shone with commanding majesty 
in his life and conversation." After a long period of suffering, 
which he bore with Christian equanimity and patience, he died 
March 4, 1731. His grave is in yonder Cemetery, where 
many of his congregation also sleep. 

Mr. Hart was thrice married. His first wife was Rebecca 
Hubbard of Boston, by whom he had two children. His sec- 
ond wife was Sarah Bull of Hartford, by whom he had one 
child. His third wife was Mary Hooker of Guilford, by whom 
he had six children. Four of his children died young. Of 
the remainder, the eldest, William Hart, was pastor of the 
Church in Saybrook; one was a deacon in this Church and 
three settled in Guilford. The Church at its formation had 
thirteen male members. Mr. Hart admitted eighty into the 
Church during his pastorate. 

THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE. 

This was built in 1705. Many votes are on record showing 
various additions from time to time. It was a barn-like edi- 
fice, with doors on the south, east and west. Long seats were 
on each side of the center aisle and pews on the sides. "John 



38 

Grave was chosen to beat the drum on Sabbath days and other 
public days for twenty shillings the year" and "Widow Martha 
Dudley was chosen to sweep the Meeting House this year 
and to do it for twenty shillings." For forty years this plain 
edifice was the religious home of the people. 

This Church, during its 182 years' existence, has had six 
pastors. It has never been without a pastor except during 
the brief intervals of the pastorates. It has never dismissed 
a pastor. It has had many honorable, Christian men among 
its officers, men whose memory is fragrant still in the Church- 
and many noble and heroic and saintly women, true mothers 
in Israel, whose prayers are vials full of odors, underneath 
the Throne of God forever. 

East Guilford has been ever the firm friend of Education 
and has sent many of her sons to college. This oldest daugh- 
ter of the mother Church has raised up a goodly number of 
ministers of the gospel. Our Church roll of ministers bears 
on it the name of Buel, a cluster of Lees, the Dowd brothers 
(Charles and Wedworth), the Murrays, Willard, Loper, 
Crampton, Fowler, Bushnell, Scranton, Field (David and Tim- 
othy), Stone (Andrew, Seth and William), Hart and Bartlett — 
in all 22. 

Thus we come to the time when East Guilford was a part 
of the mother Church in Guilford. The Church life which 
the "East farmers" enjoyed for sixty-eight years in common 
with the Church in Guilford, under its first pastors, Whit- 
field, Higginson, Elliott and Ruggles, will be given us no 
doubt in the other services of this two hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary. The immigration, the causes which led thereto, 
the covenant on shipboard, the settlement, the purchase of the 
land of the Indians, their civil and church life, I leave to oth- 
ers to describe. In closing this brief sketch of the Ecclesias- 
tical History of East Guilford, I may say the same spirit of 
self-sacrifice, of independence, of resolute endeavor and love 
of liberty which characterized the Founders, flowed out in the 
sap of the East Guilford branch and nourished in it an ever- 
green life, redolent of freedom and hardy manhood. The 
restrictions and hardships of the wilderness were nothing to 



39 

such men, compared to restriction of conscience, of opinion, 
and of action, imposed by Hierarchical Tyranny. That first 
half century was the age of homespun; luxury was neither 
known nor desired. Industry was the common law. Imple- 
ments were crude and the habits of the people simple. Na- 
ture predominated over art. Shoddy had not been invented, 
nor the dude developed. The Bible and the Catechism were 
the family library. Newspapers were rare and a magazine, in 
the modern sense, unknown. Books were few; the minister 
was the only circulating library. We may smile at their ec- 
centricities, but may well emulate their sterling virtues of 
manhood and womanhood. The past inspires us. We glory 
in foundation men, at the beginning and all along the line. 
The Church has always had them and has them still. East 
Guilford is rich in builders. Many honored names has she 
given to cities and towns and business enterprises throughout 
the broad land. Her contribution to the country in war and 
in peace is an honorable record. Among the oldest and most 
successful merchants in the city of New Haven, we find the 
name of Wilcox, of East Guilford birth and early training, 
and still having his beautiful summer residence with us, we 
are happy to say, and still active in business, bringing forth 
fruit in old age; a name given by Madison to law, to medi- 
cine, to mercantile pursuits throughout the country, north, 
south, east and west. We have, also, our Bushnells, from 
Francis Bushnell, one of the covenanters on board the ship 
which brought the first settlers of Menuncatuck, a name asso- 
ciated with wide-awake activity on many fields, giving force 
to patriotism, to religion, and to practical business; suggestive 
of good cheer and, as we are renewedly assured this morning, 
with song in its best and most sacred service, through the 
Bushnell brothers. 

A fitting companion-name to which the " East Farmers " 
are entitled, is that of Scranton. A name full of energ}^ and 
push, making itself felt in every form of industry and enter- 
prise, throughout the land, — creating and naming cities, — a 
strength and help in every good cause, a genuine live element 
in the world's forces. 



40 

East Guilford has also a valid claim upon the name of 
Hand. A name more than two hundred and fifty years old 
in colonial history, and appearing early among the settlers of 
the Hammonasset District. It is to be found with the peti- 
tions to the town of Guilford and to the General Court in 
Hartford for " libertie to be a societie by themselves ;" a 
pioneer name in the West and South, honorably linked with 
the bench, with business and with benevolent and educational 
work, — a name to be reckoned among foundation builders. 

The name of Field is an East Guilford trophy. Whether 
eminent in the pulpit, on the bench, at the bar, in journalism, 
in international telegraphy, or in other spheres. East Guilford 
and Madison will have a just pride in their ancestral blood 
and birth. 

Dowd is another name identified with the early settlers. It 
appears among the ship covenanters of June i, 1639, and is 
in the earliest records of East Guilford Center. It is identi- 
fiied not only with our own church and society life, but with 
the life and growth of business and educational enterprises in 
other places. 

We claim also a partnership in the name of Coe and all its 
achievements. 

The name of James Lee is among the early settlers of 
East Guilford, and we have the name still in honor among us, 
notwithstanding we have freely given of it, for founders and 
builders in various spheres in the East and in the farthest 
West. 

From the famous ship's company. East Guilford appropri- 
ates also the names of Bishop, Chittenden, Leete, Stone, 
Dudley, Norton, Cruttenden, and Naish. To these we join 
in honorable mention, the early names of Munger, Willard, 
Meigs, Smith, Crampton, Kelsey, Hill, Hart, Todd, Grave, 
Hoyt, Hull, Bradley, etc., — but I must forbear, or I shall 
trench upon other speakers, who during these anniversary 
exercises, are to address us on the eminent men raised up in 
these related towns. 

It only remains for me to speak in behalf of the humble 
and quiet builders, who, though unnamed on the scroll of high 



41 

fame, have yet been very important factors in the estabhsh- 
ment and growth of all our cherished institutions in Church 
and State. " The work unknown good men have done is like 
a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making 
the ground green." They are silent, conservative, stable 
builders, whose daily faithfulness in ordinary work, makes 
them genuine forces in founding, upholding and advancing 
the common interests of the people. What would the artist 
be without his paints and brush, the mason without his sand 
and cement, the author without the type-setter and pressman, 
or the general without his army .'' Even so all great works 
depend for their success, upon the humble builders who go in 
and out, in the daily routine of common place. They are 
builders as truly as those of wider name and fame ; their 
lives are as essential, their work as grand, and their reward as 
sure. 

In yonder cemetery, — Madison's storehouse of garnered 
treasures, — sleep the dead of these centuries. 

The 1800 counted graves represent every grade and degree 
of social condition. Four of the honored pastors of this 
church are there, with their flocks gathered around them. 
Many of the officers of the church are there. Soldiers and 
civilians rest there from their labors. One by one we quietly 
enter the gateway to God's Acre. The fathers and the chil- 
dren are there. The ripe fruit on our ancestral tree drops off" 
into the lap of mother earth, and the dust returns to the earth 
as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. Instead of the 
fathers, are the children. As the fathers met their opportu- 
nity and responsibility in laying deep the foundations in the 
virgin soil of the new world, so may the children meet theirs, 
in rearing the superstructure thereon ; and in their joint suc- 
cess, may they in reverent and sweet accord, say, " We are 
laborers together with God." 

Amen and Amen. 



The following poem, with the prefatory note, was read by 
the Rev. J. A. Gallup as a part of the opening services of the 
Guilford Quarter-Millenial Celebration held in the Madison 
Congregational Church on Sunday morning, September 8th, 
1889. The verses were contributed to the occasion by Geo. 
A. Wilcox, of Detroit. A native of Madison. Descendant 
(of John Willcock, Hartford, 1637,) of Thomas Wilcox, Guil- 
ford, 1742, and Thomas Norton, Guilford, 1639. 

POEM. 



A PURITAN SABBATH IN WINTER. 

[It might readily be assumed that what little inspiration there is in these 
verses is due to their being a faint echo to Burns' "Cotter's Saturday 
Night." As a matter of fact, however, the writer at the time of their com- 
position had never either seen or heard of that famous poem. The first 
suggestion of this attempt to portray a Puritan Sabbath was when the 
writer (a youth of i6) remained at home one wintr}^ Sabbath in Connecticut, 
and had some compunctions of conscience as he recalled a remark he had 
heard a typical old-time Puritan (of a generation that was even then pass- 
ing away) make to the efTect that "he never looked out of doors on Sunday 
morning to see what kind of weather it was, but put on his best clothes, 
and when the time came started out for the 'meeting ' and never failed to 
get there." And this, although he was a ver}' old man, and lived three 
miles from the meeting-house, while a degenerated youngster living in 
close pioximit}' to the church (as we had come to call it) pacified his con- 
science by making these verses on the subject.] 

Slowly unfold the mantling shades of night. 

From off the sleeping world, and dimly now 
In the far east appears the dawning light, 
In crescent fiickerings playing on the sight. 

Anon the Sun, (such as to whom they bow, 

Who the earth from whence he comes inhabit). 

Scatters 'mid frosty air his quick'ning rays ; 
Now through the leafless, knarled oak boughs they flit ; 
Now on the broad, and glist'ning plain they sit. 

The while to deepest dell the subtle essence strays. 
Forest and field of Summer verdure shorn. 

Last eve appeared all sombre, grim, and bare ; 
Lo ! now what spotless garments each adorn ; 

All do the pure, and sky-sent vestments wear ; 
God of the Universe ! 'tis Thy holy morn. 



44 

Forth from the long-roofed farmstead house that stands 

'Neath two giant elms come the pious sire ; 
Provident first each beast shall at his hands 
Receive its morning fare ; a home-knit tippet bands 

His neck ; his face unmarked by discontent or ire 
That o'er Ambition's brow in deep-wrought furrows steals ; 
There sparkles conscience, free from guilt or stain, 

And from his soul a song of praise there peals. 
To him to whom no heartfelt praise is vain. 

His steps do make no noise, as round he goes 

With thrifty care to stable, pen, and fold, 
(Pets the meek cow, or checks the bullock bold) 

And drives the frisking herd where yonder streamlet flows 
So clear, of old his sire had there his homestead chose. 

Meanwhile, within, the cheerful goodwife hies 

The breakfast to prepare — the oaken table spreads ; 
'Round which full soon, with eager waiting eyes. 
The ruddy children group ; nor one there sighs 

For appetite, nor ill-digestion dreads. 

No formal grace in hurried phrase is said. 

But ere they sit them to their homely fare. 
In solemn tones a holy chapter read, 

Precedes the earnest voice in lowly prayer. 

Then knelt in rev'rent. thankful silence, all 
In hushed response, their father's God adore ; 

Paint thou the scene whose pencil can recall 

A fitting sketch with more than poet's power. 

Now through the valley sounds the early bell. 

That bids them to the hamlet church repair, 
A gladsome sound, and musically swell 
Its pealing accents through the quiet dell. 

Borne far and wide upon the frosty air. 
Along the road the sturdy yoemen go. 

Intent to worship in th' accustomed place to-day. 
Lustily on they press through yielding snow, 

Each willing mind gives each an easy way. 

No path is there to show the mortal eye 

How oft those feet the self same way have trod ; 
Yet on yon wooded steep, uprising high, 

(As guiding praises on the heavenly road). 

The tapering spire is pointing to the sky. 

No marble steps lead lo its sacred door ; 
Nor gothic archings to attract the eye ; 
Nor hindrance aught to thoughts that upward soar 
Toward that blue vault beyond which evermore 



45 

A Temple stands with which no fane can vie. 

Profaner thou ! not this thy place to come. 
Tread not with haughty step the oak-floored aisle. 

Vain babbler cease ! and be thine utterance dumb 
Within these walls that ne'er have echoed guile. 
But man of God 'tis thine, with humble mein, 

Communing there to pass the holy hours ; 
To quaff the drops by worldly gaze unseen, 

And feel refreshing from the Spirit's showers. 
That cloihe the barren heart with verdure green. 

The pastor comes ; with solemn step and slow. 

He moves him to the oft ascended stair ; 
Benign his look, and the long locks of snow 
Adown his neck in silver richness flow, 

The aloe bloom of life serenely fair. 
'Tis silent all — the pause of thinking souls^ 
The space ere all shall in accordance praise ; 

Till now along the aisle the bidding rolls, 
Invoking aid, their thoughts on high to raise. 
Then songs go forth— the utterance of the heart ; 

And prayer conjoined full oft with hymning voice. 
And holy words that still new truth impart, 

Fall on the heedful ear, and bid the heart rejoice. 

The service o'er, with grave but cheerful look. 

Each neighbor homeward wends with neighbor near ; 

Of the sermon speaks, not by critic's book. 

Nor scans the words for theologic crook, 
On which a schism for himself to rear. 
Contented he the gospel to receive. 

E'en as 'tis writ, in good and honest heart ; 
And all vain dogmas to those wranglers leave. 

Who in Truth's essence have no lot nor part. 

His Faith swerves not, but like that constant star, 

That steadfast stands, though clouds and tempests low'r, 
And proud ships perish on the rough lee shore, 

(By false lights luied), still kindly beams from far. 

And brings him safe to port 'mid th' elemental war. 

The even-tide falls calmly on the scene ; 

The glowing hearth a cheerful warmth bestows ; 
Where grouped in circle, sire and dame between, 
The children sit demure in thoughtful mien. 

And watch by ruddy glow the daylight close. 

Unbroken quiet, save that now and then 
Some truant wonder stirs the urchin mind. 

Or toddling prattler leaves the chimney den 



46 



To climb his mother's knee, there sure to fiad 

More genial warmth from heart that throbs with love ; 

Still nestles closer as his weary eyes, 
With slumber laden, strive in vain to rove ; 

(Which every languid, drowsy sense denies ;) 
And all his wakeful efforts futile prove. 

Thus passes day ; from every care withdrawn ; 

The city's din, the busy hum of life ; 

The God-ordain'd, calm, holy hours move on. 
Till night proclaims another Sabbath gone, 

And Time is winner in the peaceful strife. 

The growing shades encircle all again ; 
Night's Queen is ruling in the wintry sky ; 

All hush'd, like ghosts, along the whiten'd plain 

Cloud shadows flit and vanish silently. 
Sleep steals o'er all, and brings its placid dreams. 

To whisper 'neath that pious farmstead roof ; 
Thrice happy he on whom such radiance beams ; 

From Monarch's frown, and rich man's greed aloof, 
He quaffs the draught of life from Nature's purest streams. 




HISTORICAL SERMON. 

BY 

REV. CORNELIUS L. KITCHEL, OF NEW HAVEN. 



[Mr. Kitchel is a descendant of Robert Kitchel, 1639.] 



"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obe3'ed to go out into a place 
which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out not knowing 
whither he went. — Hebrews xi : 8. 

Just how the call came to Abraham we do not know. But 
while he was living in Ur of the Chaldees, God, in some way, 
spake to him and said: "Get thee out from thy country and 
from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that 
I will show thee." 

To this divine mandate Abraham was not disobedient. The 
home of his childhood, the home of his fathers was dear to 
him, but there he could not worship as he would the one holy 
and living God. Far to the west, across the deserts, was a land 
where, unmolested, he and his children could follow the dic- 
tates of their finer spiritual instinct. The thought of that 
country whispered to his soul in divine accents. It would not 
let him rest. God called him. A divine promise, large and 
sure, beckoned him. And so, with a chosen compan}', he set 
out not knowing whither he went, knowing only that the God 
who called him would lead him and give him an inheritance 
in the land of promise. 

Since Abraham's day many children of his, in spirit, have 
heard a like call and have left their homes with a like faith, 
but of them all none were truer descendants of the Father of 
the Faithful than the little company whose history we are to 
trace to-day. Two hundred and fifty years ago our ancestors 
who settled this town were living, most of them, in Surrey 



48 

and Kent, those southern counties which are called, for their 
richness and beauty, the garden of England. It was a time 
of ease and of peace in temporal things. They were com- 
fortably provided with this world's goods for their station, sur- 
rounded with relatives and friends, proud and fond of 
England, their native land; but a tyrannical king and a big- 
oted prelate forced upon them the superstitious observances, 
as it seemed to them, of that Roman church from which they 
had hoped they were free. They could not conscientiously 
conform thereto. If they did not, fines, persecutions, impris- 
onments, exiles, were inflicted upon them. They heard of a 
New England across the sea, where others who sympathized 
with them had fled and found, as yet, freedom to worship God. 
Just as surely as Canaan was a land of promise to Abraham, 
New England was to our fathers. God said to them just as 
clearly as he did to the ancient patriarch: " Get thee out from 
your country and from your kindred and from your father's 
house." By faith, obeying that call, they went out, a little 
company, bidding good-bye to friends and native land, in 
frail and diminutive vessels, across the perilous sea, into the 
uncultivated wilderness, destitute of habitation, haunted by 
savages, out beyond the older settlements, that without per- 
adventure they might be beyond the reach of the tyrant's 
arm, and there in the wisdom of the Scriptures and of com- 
mon sense, in the fear of God, they laid unique foundations of 
a free Commonwealth and a free Church, from which, and 
others like them, as the centuries rolled on has developed the 
great nation in which we dwell. The land to which they were 
called they did afterward inherit. 

The text thus suggests the two-fold aspect, namely, the 
Going out in Faith and the Inheriting the Land, under which 
we may include the origin and the development of the Church 
of Christ here. 

FIRST : GOING OUT IN FAITH. 

Sometime in September, 1639 (O- S.), certain planters of 
this colony, seeking a habitation, came to Menunkatuck, as 
the region was called. Pleased with what they found, on the 



49 

29th of September, articles of agreement were signed by six 
of them representing the whole colony, and the sachem squaw 
who claimed ownership. In consideration of sundry coats, 
fathoms of wampum, glasses, shoes, hatchets, etc., "the said 
sachem squaw did sell to the aforesaid English planters all 
the land within the limits of Ruttawoo (East River) and 
Agicomick river (Stony Creek)," the present limits of Guil- 
ford. Immediately after this purchase, before winter proba- 
bly, the whole company came over from New Haven where 
they had disembarked the June preceding, and took possession 
of lands near the Sound, " especially the great plain south of 
the town," which the historian tells us had been " already 
cleared and enriched by the natives." While the little com- 
munity is getting itself into shape, let us ask who they are 
and how they have been led here. 

First of all, we need to note that they are but a little band 
of a vast company. It has been computed that between the 
years 1630 and 1640 more than 20,000 persons arrived in 
New England from the mother country. It was the time of 
Charles the First and his Archbishop Laud, the time of the 
Star Chamber and High Commissions. Many of the most 
active and most Godly ministers of the Church of England 
with their congregations, though they loved their " dear 
mother Church," as they did not cease to call her, could not 
conform to the superstitious ceremonies arbitrarily prescribed, 
and as non-conformists, fled to New England. 

One such minister was Henry Whitfield, of Ockley in Sur- 
rey, who became the leader and pastor of the company which 
settled in Guilford. Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, tells of 
him that he was educated to be a lawyer, " first at the Uni- 
versity and then at the Inns of Court. But the gracious and 
early operation of the Holy Spirit on his heart inclined him 
rather to be a preacher of the Gospel." For twenty years he 
was a conformist, but as the result of an interview with Rev. 
John Cotton (afterward pastor at Boston) and Rev. John 
Davenport (afterward pastor at New Haven), both of whom 
for their non-comformity were later compelled to fly, first to 
Holland and thence to New England, " Whitfield embraced a 



50 

modest secession," as Cotton Mather phrases it. Summoned 
once and again before the archbishop's court, and becoming 
liable to censure, no longer able " to proceed in the public 
exercise of his ministry," he resigned his rich living, sold his 
personal estate and became the leader of these Surrey and 
Kent farmers. They knew his piety and his ability from 
missionary work he had done among them, and " felt they 
could not do without his ministry." Like him, too, they con- 
sidered affairs at home were hopeless, and duty called them to 
lay new foundations for Christ's kingdom beyond the sea. 

Two other men of this little colony we need to note. One 
of them, William Leete, was afterward magistrate here in 
Guilford, then Governor of New Haven Colony, later deputy 
Governor of the United Colony of Connecticut, and later still 
for several years Governor of Connecticut, by annual election 
till he died. The decided and excellent quality of this man 
appeared early, He is the only member of this little colony 
except Mr. Whitfield whose experience in England Cotton 
Mather tells us of 

The other notable person was Samuel Desborough, whose 
brother married the sister of Oliver Cromwell, and who in 
later years under the Lord Protector was Keeper of the Great 
Seal of Scotland, training for which high ofBce he had in 
being one of the seven pillars of the church and magistrate 
here in Guilford before yet he returned to England. 

Around these men as leaders gathered the sturdy farmers 
of Kent and Surrey, young men, most of them, we are told, 
forty planters in all, and embarking from London in May, 
1639, in two vessels probably, began their long voyage of 
forty-nine days across the Atlantic. 

Now in regard to this company, note that while they were 
not organized as a church, yet they were distinctively a reli- 
gious community, whose leader was their pastor and whose 
"Design was Religion." Their main object was not adven- 
ture, nor trade, nor the improvement of their personal estates. 
They were indeed of that great race in whose blood has ever 
been a readiness to brave danger, and I do not deny that they 
were sagacious and thrifty men bound to do as best they 



51 

could for their families and estates, but first of all they did 
seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Listen to 
what they declare four years later when they were about to 
form their civil government : "The mayne ends which were 
propounded to ourselves in our coming hither and settling 
down together are, that we may settle and uphold the ordi- 
nances of God in an explicit Congregational Church way 
with most purity, peace and liberty for the benefit both of 
ourselves and posterity after us." 

They landed at New Haven probably toward the end of 
June. Sometime before the 29th of September, they held 
their first meeting of which we have any record, in Mr New- 
man's barn in New Haven, and agreed that the lands called 
Menunkatuck should be purchased for them and their heirs, 
"the deed-writings thereabout to be made and drawn in the 
name of these six planters in our steads, viz : Henry Whit- 
field, Robert Kitchel, William Leete, William Chittenden, 
John Bishop, and John Cofifinge." 

These six planters as directed, purchased the land, and 
the little colony of about two hundred souls we may sup- 
pose, as has been before narrated, came over from New Ha- 
ven before winter and the history of this community began. 

And now for nearly four years, until June 19th, 1643, when 
the church was first formally instituted, but little is recorded. 
That they nourished a vigorous religious and devotional life 
in all this period of patient waiting, as we should otherwise 
suppose is indicated also by the fact that midway in it, in 
1641, the Rev. John Higginson was called as "teacher" to 
assist Mr. Whitfield, the pastor, in his work. Why they did 
not organize a church at once, we can only conjecture. Most 
likely they felt less need of such organization, because they 
were, as it were, a church already. Not only was Mr. Whit- 
field, their leader, a regular clergyman whose ordination they 
accepted and never had repeated (as was done in the case of 
Mr. Davenport at New Haven and others), but many of them 
had enjoyed his ministrations in their former homes, and one 
of them, Mr. Thomas Norton, had been warden of Mr. Whit- 
field's church at Ockley. 



52 

That they kept the formation of a church steadily in view 
is evident from this record of an agreement made at a meet- 
ing of the planters held Feb. 2d, 1642, at a time when the 
need of some more explicit kind of civil government appears 
first to have found expression : " It is agreed that the civil 
power of administration of justice and preservation of peace 
shall remain in the hands of Robert Kitchel, William Chit- 
tenden, John Bishop and William Leete, formerly chosen for 
that work, until some may be chosen out of tJic chnrcJi that 
shall he gathered here." 

How long this indeterminate condition of Church and State 
would have continued, had not some impulse come from with- 
out, it would b2 difficult to say. Such an impulse, however, 
did come in the spring of 1643. at which time it became 
necessary, owing to the breach then existing between king 
and Parliament, for the colony here to combine with New 
Haven and the other New England colonies for the sake of 
security. But in order to do this, it was necessary that Guil- 
ford should adopt some definite civil constitution and form of 
government, and as in their idea, the civil government was to 
be the creature of the church, the church itself must be first 
definitely organized that it might, in turn, call the civil body 
into existence. 

Accordingly on June 19th, 1643, the first step was taken 
by choosing seven men to be the "seven pillars." These 
seven pillars were the pastor Henry Whitfield, his assistant 
and son-in-law John Higginson, Samuel Desborough, Wil- 
liam Leete, Jacob Sheaffe, John Mipham and John Hoadley. 
This was in accordance with the method pursued in New 
Haven four years before, at the suggestion of Rev. John 
Davenport, the pastor there, who derived this method of ec- 
clesiastical organization from the text : " Wisdom hath 
builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." 
This may seem to us rather heroic homiletics, but practically 
at that time it met the case. These Christians in the wilder- 
ness had cut loose from the ancient foundations. They were 
feeling for the simplicity of the early Church which gathered 
about Christ as the only foundation, and practically they at- 



53 

tained it. Yet, members as they were of the ancient Church 
of England, it must have satisfied their imagination and filled 
a void in their hearts, to Jiavc soDtctJiiiig to join. These seven 
godly, Christian men, choicest of the whole band — these seven 
pillars, in some unconscious way and with a sort of Scriptural 
sanction stood to them, we cannot doubt, in place of the 
goodly battlements of that great historic Church from which 
they never separated, but from which they were now cutting 
loose. 

These seven elect men first drew up a "Doctrine of Faith," 
the same used in the First Church, till in 1837 it was some- 
what amended. To this they formally assented and then 
entered into covenant with God and each other. Thus was 
laid the foundation. Then the other members joined them- 
selves to these seven pillars by making the same profession 
and covenant and the church was fully gathered and estab- 
lished. 

Of the newly organized church Mr. Whitfield continued 
to be pastor just as he had been of the colony from the be- 
ginning. It would seem that he was never formally chosen 
pastor by the church nor installed, probably because for sev- 
eral years he had actually been their pastor and in the work 
and was a regularly ordained clergyman. 

Rev. John Higginson was also continued as "teacher." 
He preached one-half day every Sabbath and had charge of 
the public school. The office of ruling elder, which existed 
in New Haven and other New England churches was not 
adopted here. Neither were deacons chosen either in Mr. 
Whitfield's or Mr. Higginson's ministry, that is, for nearly a 
quarter of a century. Three men were chosen annually who 
collected the minister's maintenance, and managed the tem- 
poralities of the church like vestrymen in the Church of 
England. To the church thus constituted the four planters 
who had been entrusted with the control of affairs until a 
church should be gathered, resigned their trust and by the 
church thus organized the civil polity of the plantation was 
thereupon established. 



54 

In that civil polity the feature which now seems most pecu- 
liar, and for which the church is justly held responsible, is 
the provision that only church members should be voting 
citizens. This is fully expressed in the constitution which 
the church drafted for the civil government now to be set up 
by it. It reads : " We do now therefore all and every of us 
agree, order and conclude that only such planters as are also 
members of the church here shall be and be called freemen 
and that such freemen only shall have power to elect magis- 
trates, deputies and other officers of public interest, or author- 
ity in matters of importance, concerning either the civil affairs 
or government here, from amongst themselves and not else- 
where." In a word, only church members could vote or be 
voted for. 

What our fathers thus did was with entire unanimity, in 
accordance with the high purpose that actuated them, to erect 
a miniature republic in which the good should rule. They 
thought they had found who the good were, namely, those 
who by a regenerating faith had become members of the true 
Church of Christ. So they established a popular government 
with a "piety qualification" — not property nor learning but 
personal character should be the test of citizenship. 

That such were the motives that indwced our fathers to 
thus limit citizenship appears very clearly in a treatise writ- 
ten at that time, probably by Rev. John Dapenport (though 
ascribed on its title page to John Cotton), entitled "A Dis- 
course about Civil Government in a New Plantation whose 
Design is Religion." In this note the Sixth Argument, 
(which doubtless underlay all the rest) namely : "The 
danger of devolving this (civil) power upon those not in 
church order." When Mr. Davenport came to the Massa- 
chusetts colony on his way to New Haven, he found that they 
in Massachusetts had seven years before (May i8th, 1631) 
limited citizenship in the same way. They had done so in 
part because they were afraid that otherwise emissaries of the 
King, or of Laud, might gain entrance into their councils. 
The same danger existed here and they sought to escape it in 
the same way. 



55 

But fear was not their only motive in thus limiting citizen- 
ship. It seemed to them also in the highest degree expedi- 
ent. The fifth argument in the pamphlet above referred to 
reads: Where citizenship "is committed to those who are 
furnished with the best helps for securing to a Christian state 
the faultless discharge of such a trust, is the best form of 
government in a Christian commonwealth and which men 
that are free to chuse (as in new plantations they are) ought 
to establish." In their view government was not a right but 
a trust, and should be committed to those who would fault- 
lessly discharge it. Such, they thought, were those who feared 
God. It would be difficult to pack into so few words so many 
just principles of political science. That government should 
be by the governed, yet not by all. That the franchise is the 
right of those only who can rightly use it. That some test 
of qualification must be imposed, and that test should be per- 
sonal character. These were the ideas our fathers embodied 
in their constitution. For which of them need we apologize.'' 
It is easy for us now to see that piety itself would be endan- 
gered by making the profession of it an opportunity for civil 
power and privilege. But to our fathers their religious expe- 
perience was a real and an awful thing. That men could trifle 
with or prostitute it for temporal advantage did not occur to 
them. They "wrought in a sad sincerity," and this is the worst 
any man can say of them. But a higher motive than either 
fear or expediency actuated our fathers in thus limiting citi- 
zenship. Above all, it seemed to them right. "To make the 
Lord God our governor is the best form of government." 
"That which giveth unto Christ his due preheminence is the 
best form of government." So read the first and second 
arguments in Mr. Davenport's pamphlet. 

Just here something should be said in vindication of the 
independence of Guilford in all its early history. Take, for 
instance, this limiting citizenship to church members. This 
was a practice almost universal in the colonies of New En- 
gland at that time, Hartford being peculiar in not accepting 
it. Guilford accepted it as a result of the situation, not be- 
cause New Maven did, and in her own way. It is only mem- 



56 

bers in the church here, not church members anywhere, who 
could vote, and with a moderation and justice which appear 
often in her annals, the Guilford constitution provides that all 
planters, whether church members or not, have a voice in the 
general courts or town meetings "when the division of lands, 
the enactments of bye or town laws and such matters were 
attended to." 

In another and very admirable way our fathers here exhib- 
ited an independent civic sense. They never rejected or 
made light of the common law which they had brought with 
them from the mother country. They had a deep regard for 
it. There is no allusion in our records (says Mr. Smith) such 
as appears in those of New Haven and Milford, indicating 
any idea of dispensing with the rules of common law. They 
always "used it in contracts, civil injuries and rules of court." 
What they did was in all criminal cases to make the judicial 
laws of God, as delivered by Moses, the rule "for all the 
courts of this jurisdiction." So they did not retain the pen- 
alties enacted by the parliament of Great Britain, thus cut- 
ting down the number of capital offenses from thirty-one to 
twelve. 

Having thus seen the church at Guilford with wisdom con- 
structing and establishing the civic government, let us descend 
to affairs more domestic and enquire in regard to the church 
building at first erected. The time of its building, it appears 
to me, is indicated by the fact that it was of stone and had a 
thatched roof, as we judge from the record in 165 1 : "The 
meeting house appointed to be thatched and clayed before 
winter," showing that stones laid in clay were the material 
used. Now buildings in stone like Mr. Whitfield's house and 
some others were doubtless the earliest built here, the settlers, 
before they had discovered the manifold uses of the abundant 
timber about them, making their houses of stone and thatch- 
ing them just as they haa done in England. The name 
"Clapboard Hill " perhaps being given to the place and at 
the time when first " cleft boards " were substituted for stone 
and thatch. This " stone age," we may suppose, passed by 
very soon, and the church erected in it was probably one of 



57 

the very first buildings provided, just as we should expect 
from the prominence religious worship had in this community. 
Until it was constructed, we are told that Mr. Whitfield's 
house, which would thus appear to have been built first, was 
" fitted up with folding partitions," so as to afTord a place for 
public meeting on the Sabbath. In 1645, we find in the town 
records : " Ordered, that no more trees be cut down in front 
of the meeting house." Meeting house, it was called, because 
in it the town meetings were held as well as public worship, 
the town meeting being composed of church members who 
came together as truly in a religious spirit to serve God in the 
business of the Court as in the ordinances of the Church. The 
first meeting house stood about the middle of the north end 
of the green, was twenty-four or twenty -five feet square, and 
had four roofs coming to a point in the centre. 

The people were gathered to worship by beat of drum, for 
the fear of attack by Indians kept this people martial. Every 
Sunday, reads the law of the colony, " a fourth part of the 
trained band in every plantation shall in their course come 
constantly to the worship of God every Lord's Day and (such 
as can come) on lecture days ; to be at the meeting house at 
latest before the second drum hath left beating." The drum 
was used to assemble the people, until in 1724 a bell was pur- 
chased. Once in the meeting house, the men sat on one side 
of the room the women on the other, until in 171 3, when a- 
new meeting house was built, a special vote was passed that 
" men and women sit together in the meeting house in the 
pews." But even then and till a much later day and probably 
at first, seats were assigned by a special committee, according 
to " age and the lists," as the order reads. 

About the meeting house was the burying ground, where 
one by one as they finished their earthly career, the "fore- 
fathers of the hamlet slept." President Dwight, when he 
journeyed through Guilford in 1800, found the green about 
the meeting house still used in this way, and discourses on 
the undesirability of the practice. In 1817, the gravestones 
and monuments were removed to the new cemeteries, about a 
mile on either side east and west of the village. 



58 

In 1650, the church and colony met with a severe loss in 
the return to England of their pastor, Mr. Whitfield. Origin- 
ally the wealthiest of all the planters, he found his estate 
much exhausted by helping his people in their settlement 
while he supported a numerous family mainly at his own ex- 
pense, as the people were poor. Meanwhile he received press- 
ing invitations to return to England, where the Commonwealth 
had been established. Says Mr. Ruggles : " He was properly 
the father of the plantation ; lov'd his flock tenderly and was 
extremely belov'd by them." As a preacher, also, he was 
most acceptable, " delivering himself with a peculiar dignity, 
beauty and solemnity." When the time came for him to 
leave, the church and congregation accompanied him to the 
water's side, as the elders did Paul at Miletus, " with many 
tears." After his return to England he appears to have fin- 
ished his life in the ministry at the city of Winchester. 

In the following year, 165 i, went Mr. Samuel Desborough, 
who must have been a great loss to the church in which he 
was one of the seven pillars, and to the community whose 
magistrate he had been from the beginning. Mr. John Hoadly, 
another one of the seven pillars, afterward chaplain to Crom- 
well's garrison in Edinburgh Castle, and grandfather of the 
much more famous Bishop Hoadly, went two years later, 1653, 
with several others, while those who continued in Guilford, 
" on account of the persuasion that in a short time they 
should all follow their pastor," did not or could not purchase 
his property, which he offered them upon very low terms. 

When Mr. Whitfield left, Mr. Higginson became sole pastor 
for eight years, till 1659, when he sailed for England, but the 
vessel being forced into Salem by contrary winds he was set- 
tled there as pastor for more than forty years. 

Between 1659 ^^^ 1664 there was no settled pastor here, 
but in the latter year Rev. Joseph Elliott, son of the Rev. 
John Elliott, pastor of Roxbury, who is called frequently the 
Apostle to the Indians, was called and happily settled. "As 
a preacher Mr. Joseph Elliott is said to have been inferior to 
none in the age in which he lived, and he was a burning and 
shining light in this community." Under his dispensation it 



59 

was that the colonies of New Haven (of which Guilford was 
a part) and Connecticut were united. The people of Guilford 
must have taken sides strongly in the this controversy. The 
churches of New Haven colony were all deeply concerned in 
it, for union with Connecticut meant the doing away with the 
provision that only church members were freemen, as the 
Connecticut colony had never adopted it. In the Connecticut 
colony also, the Half-way Covenant was allowed, which 
seemed objectionable to the New Haven people. For these 
and other reasons of a more worldly sort, New Haven remon- 
strated and resisted for a series of years, but at last was 
forced to yield for fear if she did not, that the Royal Commis- 
sion lately come from England, if they appealed to it, would 
attach them to the arbitrary government of the Duke of 
York, who claimed by royal grant from the Connecticut river 
westward. So in 1665 New Haven and Connecticut became 
one colony. 

This union of the New Haven colony with Connecticut was 
the end of the distinctively heroic period of Guilford and New 
Haven. An effort was made by our fathers to maintain a 
government in which God should be ruler, and Jesus Christ 
should have " the preheminence which is His due." In their 
secluded situation under these hallowed influences, a rarely 
pure and noble community had sprung up and was in thriving 
condition when the great world current swept in upon and 
over them and reinstated the secular order. The note was 
pitched too high ; it could not be held. The fair splendor of 
that roseate dawn "fades into the light of common day." 
From this time on is the second period of Guilford's ecclesi- 
astical history which in the phraseology of the text we may 
call: 

SECOND : INHERITING THE LAND. 

Let US rapidly observe how as the years passed by what 
had been the little, heroic, early church increases and colo- 
nizes, and how in due season also arise here churches of 
other names and order until at length we arrive at the situa- 
tion as we find it to-day. 



6o 

First, we note that in the pastorate of Thomas Ruggles 
Sr., who had succeeded Mr. Elliott (died 1694) in 1695, East 
Guilford became a separate Ecclesiastical Society. The farm- 
ers to the east had patiently and faithfully come the long way 
till, in 1703, they felt strong enough to start out for them- 
selves. The history of this church, eldest and sturdiest 
daughter of its mother, has been recited to-day by its hon- 
ored pastor in Madison, but East Guilford it was till 1826, 
and may justly claim a share in this history in all its most 
honorable and interesting period. 

Next, we find that in 171 1, in spite of having recently colo- 
nized, the Mother Church had so grown as to need a new and 
larger meeting house than the original twenty-five foot 
square stone one. Accordingly, a large wooden church was 
erected about the center of the green, south of the old school 
house. It was sixty-eight feet long and forty-five feet wide, 
three stories high, with double galleries. Later, in 1726, a 
steeple one hundred and twenty feet high was added to shelter 
the bell lately purchased. At the same time a clock was made 
for it and given to the society. It is claimed that this Meet- 
ing house was the first in Connecticut equipped with steeple, 
bell and clock. The old clock, the same old clock I am told, 
is still ticking above our heads, but that Meeting House was 
superceded by the present structure, which was dedicated 
May 19th, 1830. 

In 1720 yet another colony went out. The people of North 
Guilford (at first called Cohabit) were incorporated as an Ec- 
clesiastical Society by act of legislature in that year and built 
a house of worship in 1723. This was the Third Society, East 
Guilford being the second. 

Still a Fourth Society, whose territorial limits were the same 
as those of the old First Society, came into existence under 
the following circumstances. The elder Ruggles died in 
1728 and was succeeded in 1729 by his son. Rev. Thomas 
Ruggles Jr. The latter was not acceptable to a large mi- 
nority (twenty-nine out of eighty male communicants), who 
claimed, in the words of Trumbull, that he was "not such a 
distinguishing, experimental and animating preacher as they 
desired." So they withdrew and established public worship 



6i 

by themselves. They erected a church building on a lot 
facing the north end of the green in 1730, but it was not 
until 1733, after many unsuccessful attempts of councils and 
committees appointed by the legislature to reconcile them to 
their brethren, that ihey were constituted by Act of General 
Assembly a separate society. Through all this controversy 
the interesting fact appears that "both parties," in the words of 
a report of a committee of the General Assembly in 1742, 
"declare themselves to be of the Congregational principles, 
religiously adhering to the (Cambridge) platform printed in 
1649." The First Society in a powerfully written protest to 
the General Assembly against its authorizing the dissenters 
to become a distinct society, probably drawn up by Mr. Rug- 
gles, objecting to a council called in this matter not by the 
churches but by the General Assembly, say that "this 
church did dissent from (and not unite with) the churches" 
established in accordance with the Saybrook Platform in 
1708. As a matter of fact, this church never was Consoci- 
ated. Its Congregationalism has been pure from the time 
when the infant colony, still on shipboard, declared that its 
"mayne end" in coming hither was "to uphold the ordinance 
of God in an explicit Congregational Church way." 

In reference to the Fourth Society let us briefly say that 
after having had four pastors, its membership having become 
diminished by death and removal, in 1810 sixteen persons 
were returned to the First Society, by an act of legislature, 
while still others united themselves with a Baptist .Society 
which arose about that time. 

In the days of the Junior Ruggles we have also to note the 
formation into an Episcopal Church of those in Guilford who 
were "conformists to the Church of England." This was 
done by Rev. Mr. Lyons, under the auspices of the "Society 
for the Prbpogation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," in 1744 
and three years later, in 1747, St. John's in North Guilford 
was organized. A few years before this the great revival, 
which began at Northampton, Mass., under Jonathan Ed- 
wards and was promoted by Whitfield and Tennant, had 
taken deep hold of Connecticut and part of the town of 
Guilford, says Dr. Trumbull, "was visited in a most gracious 



62 

manner." Without doubt under its influence a higher style 
of piety arose in the churches, yet some more conservative 
people, who wanted the sacraments from which the "relation 
of experiences" had excluded them, found refuge in the 
Church of England. At any rate, Jonathan Edwards said in 
175 1 that that Church had increased three fold in New 
England. The Episcopal Church in Guilford beginning under 
these conditions, two years later (in 1746) voted to erect a 
church building, which was opened in 1750 by Rev. Samuel 
Johnson, D. D. This building was on the green (and was the 
last building left standing on it), a little west of the present 
Christ Church, which was consecrated in 1838. During the 
Revolutionary War the church edifice suffered from plunder 
and decay and the congregation became almost extinct till 
1793. In 1805 and 1806 considerable accessions were re- 
ceived from the First Society, about the time of some dissat- 
isfaction with the Rev. Mr. Brainerd, for Mr. Ruggles, Jr., 
died in 1770, as did his colleague. Rev. Amos Fowler, in 
1800. Mr. Israel Brainerd then succeeded to the pastorate of 
the First Church, from which he was dismissed, not with- 
out friction, in 1806, at which time began the notable pastor- 
ate of Rev. Aaron Button. We are told that in the first 
three years of Mr. Button's ministry one hundred and fifty 
persons united with the church on profession and more than 
six hundred during his whole pastorate. 

We may not pass over the fact that in 1808 a Baptist 
Church of nineteen members was organized here, some of 
whom were friends of Rev. Mr. Brainerd, aggrieved by his re- 
moval from the pastorate of the First Church, while others of 
them had been members of the old Fourth Society, which, as 
has been stated, went to pieces just at this time. Elder 
Alvah Goldsmith was made pastor in 1823 and in 1826 they 
numbered thirty-six members, but since then seem to have 
dwindled away. 

Much more considerable is the body of Methodists, which 
was first organized in 1837, though as far back as 1789 Jesse 
Lee, the apostle of Methodism, had preached at Ebenezer 
Hopson's, in Boston street, and later, in 181 1, Bishop Asbury 
was here. 



63 

These various religious bodies, not springing genetically 
from the First Church, we recognize to-day as meeting the 
spiritual wants of many whom, from one cause or another, 
Congregationalism does not satisfy, and members each of the 
one body of Christ. All honor, too, in its proper religious 
sphere, to the growing body of Roman Catholics who organ- 
ized as a parish in i860, received a resident pastor first in 
1887, and now have a congregation numbering in all more 
than two hundred. 

It is too soon for the historian profitably to review the cir- 
cumstances attending the dismission of Rev. Aaron Button 
from the pastorate of the First Church in 1842, which resulted 
in the organization of the Third Church in 1843. But every 
true friend of the Church of Christ in this community, and 
every loyal admirer of the early history of this town, cannot 
but regret that this ancient church ever had to be rent in 
twain. May it not be hoped that in due time and with due 
regard to every proper feeling there may be again here, as at 
first, but one church of the Congregational name and order. 

I have not time to review the record of the recent rectors 
and pastors of these various churches. They are inscribed 
upon their respective archives and the more recent of them 
in the memory and affections of their people. They need 
no characterization from me. Yet we cannot at this time 
pass without mention the name of Dr. Bennett. God did not 
spare that beloved and honored man to be with us this day. 
But his gracious figure has vanished so recently that he seems 
still to be here, where for iorty years he lived and labored so 
faithfully. He rests from his labors and his works do follow 
him. 

In closing, let us gratefully praise God for the inheritance 
into which he has led His people in all these fair and goodly 
churches, and for the varied streams of blessing which, spring- 
ing from one head, have flowed out so widely. 

Let us pray that a measure of the heroic faith which in- 
spired our fathers to go out "not knowing whither they 
went" may likewise urge us, their children, to a like faith- 
fulness in all the duties to which our God calls us. 



ADDRESS. 



EDUCATION IN GUILFORD AND MADISON. 

BY 

REV. JAMES L. WILLARD, D. D. 



[Dr. Willard is a descendant of Thomas Willard, 1689, and Nathan 
Bradley, J658.] 



It was on a bright May clay, about the noon of the month, 
that there came to me, from your worthy Secretary, a letter, 
in which it was written, " Will you give us an address of 
twenty-five minutes on Sunday evening, September 8, upon 
Education in Guilford ?" My first thought was to say, " Pleaae 
excuse me." My second thought was to hold the matter in 
brief abeyance for further consideration. And my third 
thought, after a gentle rebuke from your genial Chairman, 
was, " I will try and do it." 

And having been born in Guilford East that was, and tided 
over, while young and tender, into the Madison that now is, 
there seemed to be a two-fold reason why I should take some 
humble part in the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fif- 
tieth Anniversary of the original town. 

EDUCATION. 

Were I to read to you Webster's definition of this word, 
and also that of Worcester, it would take up more time than 
one could spare, while trying to condense himself into twenty- 
five minutes. I must, then, be content to say, that education, 
like a tree, has root, trunk, boughs. Take good care of the 



65 

root, and the trunk will be sound ; and the boughs will be full 
of fruit. Did the men of other days, who breathed the great 
sea wind that swept in over the waters, look well to this 
thing ? They did. And education, to their minds, meant 
more than reading ; more than spelling ; more than geogra- 
phy ; more than arithmetic. It meant the complete develop- 
ment of the entire man, by the culture of those faculties that 
give strength, energy, objective force in all right directions. 
But they of the olden time, and they also of more recent days, 
knew that the root principle must receive much of its needed 
strength from good schools and good books. And, as Senator 
Hawley said at Milford, " When there was any great thing to 
be done, our fathers had their town meetings and got the 
' sense of the meetin'. ' " And that sense they made prac- 
tical. 

Hence, on page 80 of the history of Guilford, from the 
manuscripts of Hon. Ralph D. Smith, we have this record: 
" Schools were established probably as early as the establish- 
ment of the church, 1643. They were formerly supported 
like the clergyman, by a tax." At a town meeting holden the 
7th of October, 1646, a committee was appointed of three men 
to collect the contributions for the salaries of Mr. Whitfield 
and Mr. Higginson, and it was ordered that the additional 
sum towards Mr. Higginson's maintenance with respect to 
the school shall be paid by the treasurer yearly out of the best 
of the rates in due season according to our agreements." From 
that time forward Guilford has been favored with good and 
true men, 

" Fit to instruct her 3-outh." 

Fener, Belamy, Pitman, Collins, Elliott, Ward, Dudley, John- 
son, — these are names that appear on the printed page, as 
having been teachers prior to the year 1794, " when the pres- 
ent system of school districts was adopted in Connecticut." 

In November, 1824, the Lancasterian method was inaugur- 
ated. This was continued for about five years, and then given 
up. Among its teachers we may name Dr. Alvan Talcot and 
Mr. Samuel Robinson. 

But, while methods change, the good work goes on. From 



66 

1 83 1 to 1837, Mr. R. D. Smith, Mr. Luman Whedon and Mr. 
Julius N. Dowd, each, in the order named, seeks 

" To rear the tender thought, 
To teach the young idea how to shoot, 
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, 
To breathe the enliv'ning spirit, and to fix 
The generous purpose in the glowing breast." 

Years wear away, and another step is taken in the right 
direction. Mrs. Sarah Grlffing, widow of Hon. Nathaniel 
Griffing, and Hon. Simeon B. Chittenden, both open their 
hearts and hands for one and the same purpose, and that is, 
to promote the cause of sound learning. September 3, 1855, 
a buildmg, known as " The Guilford Institute," had been com- 
pleted, and was opened with suitable public exercises, and 
addresses by Rev. E. Edwin Hall, S. B. Chittenden and 
others. 

In 1737, a library was formed in the towns of Guilford, Say- 
brook, Killingworth and Lyme. But, before the close of that 
century, Guilford, in the course oi events, had a library of its 
own. And I only state what many know, that her people 
were then and are now, a reading people, believing with Car- 
lyle, that "All that mankind has done, thought, gained or 
been, is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books." 
Or with Coleridge, that " It is saying less than the truth to 
affirm that an excellent book is like a well-chosen and well- 
tended fruit tree. Its fruits are not of one season only. With 
the due and natural intervals, we may recur to it year after 
year, and it will supply the same nourishment and the sanie 
gratification, if only we ourselves return to it with the same 
healthful appetite." 

And if it be true — and in my judgment it is true — that the 
root principles of education are largely in good schools and 
in good books, it is, I am sure, none the less true that for 
these two hundred and fifty years Guilford has not only held 
fast to the conditions named, but both alike have grown with 
her growth and strengthened with her strength. The spirit 
evoked from her schools and her books has thoroughly pene- 
trated and permeated the minds of the people. And out of 



67 

this has come a common thought puwer, more to be desired 
than gold — yea, than much fine gold. The root, the trunk 
the boughs of education are all here and have been here right 
through the generations. Hence we look tor fruit and are not 
disappointed. 

No one can ride or walk through this goodly town and not 
say to himself and others, "What pleasant homes !" "How 
beautiful for situation!" 'Tis true that education did not 
create these Guilford acres, nor coax the sea to kiss their face 
through all the rolling ages, but aesthetic culture has done 
much to make that face more inviting and to adorn the whole 
body with grace and beauty. The rude and unsightly touch 
that comes of ignorance and illiteracy has not made its mark 
on your door posts, nor on your public green, nor has it left 
its debris on the green hill or on the pebbled beach. The 
outward forms of objective beauty seem to say, "This is an 
educated people." 

Passing now to social life, "Behold how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." But 
such conditions are rare and not many behold it. A defective 
education is sure to develop an unhealthy social atmosphere, 
full of little annoyances and discomforts, and this will gener- 
ate bitterness, and envy, and strife. But where a long line of 
educational forces has been nerved with common sense, and 
these have become quickening entities in the minds of the 
people, there the social atmosphere is clear and bracing. The 
sun never disputes about its orbit. No more does genuine 
worth. A star never asks to shine by another star's light. 
No more do deserving men and women ask recognition be- 
yond their merit. And a culture that can produce this state 
of things has in it a rich and praiseworthy excellence. And 
good it is to know that your social atmosphere is pure and 
sweet and inviting, free from the jealousies and rivalries that 
pertain to half-educated minds. 

Should one think and say that education has but little to 
do in moulding and shaping the social element another might 
think and say that rain, and dew, and sunshine have but little 
to do in the matter of corn, and grass, and roses. But such 



68 

thinking and such speaking would be contrary to the nature 
of things, and no more so in the one case than in the other. 
And am I not right in averring that pleasant homes and 
social health owe much to education ? 

Another fact to be considered is that of the high character 
and distinguished worth of many whose early training was in 
vour schools and in reading your books. 

What could be said of a sky without sun, or moon, or 
stars.-* And what could be said of a town without men intel- 
lectually bright.^ Happily for you, these latter have not been 
wanting. Some have kept their homes here, others have 
moved out to occupy places of trust and honor. But, whether 
remaining here or going elsewhere, they were "burning and 
shining lights." And when the people of to-day recall their 
names, what wonder if hearts thrill and pulse as though 
touched by some spirit of ancestral joy .'' And should it be 
asked, " What grows in this old town .''" one, with a slight 
metonomy of words, may answer: 

" Man is the nobler growth our realms supply, 
And minds are cultured in our Guilford sky." 

I cannot pause here to go over the roll of honor and relate 
the deeds that each has done. Enough to say that the dead 
wrought nobly in their day and generation and that the living 
are worthy sons of worthy sires. But they and you were and 
are largely indebted to early training. And in that training 
the teacher and the book each had its part. And if I cannot 
say just what the acorn needs in order to evolve a tree that 
will become the monarch of the woods, and cannot say just 
what the child needs in order to become a great and noble 
man, I can say that the soil in which the acorn is has much 
to do with the future oak, and the educational training that a 
child receives has much to do with the future man or woman. 
It was Alexander Pope who said: 

" 'Tis education forms the common mind; 
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." 

The boy understood this who, when asked, " Why is a cer- 
tain tree crooked .''" replied, " I suppose somebody stepped on 



69 

it when it was a little fellow." It is clear, I think, that Guil- 
ford has not stepped on her children, but has uniformly sup- 
plied the conditions of a straight and healthy growth. And 
that has brought rejoicing to their homes and joy to their 
hearts. And still the roots go down, and the trunk expands, 
and the boughs bear better and better fruit. And the people 
act not as though they had already attained, either were 
already perfect, but as those having a purpose in their hearts 
to go forward, right forward. Education, to the dwellers in 
this town, is a thing that lives and moves. It has, as one said 
of religion, no blind eye, no deaf ear, no dumb tongue, no 
withered hand, no lame foot. And education, says Dr. James 
Walker, " does not consist in putting things into the mind, 
but, as the name implies, in bringing things out — in the devel- 
opment of the power and habit of self-activity, self-reliance, 
and self-government ; and to effect this object, the faculties 
on which these traits depend must be stimulated, exercised, 
and put to the stretch." The inhabitants of Guilford seemed 
to have learned this, and to have been rewarded by enrolling 
among their children many who attained to eminence and 
high distinction. 

And here may I digress a moment, and ask, would it be 
strange should Madison (East Guilford) be to roe " the one 
place on all the earth that I love most dearly.?" There I first 
saw the light ; there, in long summer days, I followed old 
roads that wind through meadows and over hills ; there I 
knew every little nook and bay where the tides come in ; 
there I listened to the morning and evening song of birds, 
and climbed trees that I might find out what those songsters 
had laid away in their nests ; there I gathered wild flowers in 
wood and dell ; there I heard the solemn tolling of the bell 
when neighbor or friend had died, and more than once, in the 
awful stillness, I fancied that tl.e Day of Judgment was near 
at hand. It all comes back to me now, and was a part of my 
education. 

But, returning to my theme, of Madison, it may be said, 
" She is the daughter of a worthy mother," and shares with 
her in the elder day glory. Eor more than six decades she 



70 

has walked alone, though not unmindful of the lessons that she 
had already learned. These have been to her " like apples of 
gold m pictures of silver." When a part of the mother be- 
came a child again, those who remained with the child still 
kept to their former training. In their eyes, the school- master 
was an imposing personage. And many a timid boy felt the 
force of words to which Oliver Wendell Holmes has given 
such fit expression : 

" Grave is the master's look ; his forehead wears 
Thick rows of wrinkles, prints of worrying cares." 
Uneasj' lies the heads of all that rule, 
His worst df all whose kingdom is a school ; 
Supreme he sits ; before the awful frown 
That binds his brows, the boldest eye goes down; 
Not more submissive Israel heard and saw 
At Sinai's feet the Giver of the Law." 

Among my early teachers in the then new town of Madison, 
were Luman Whedon, Frederick Dowd, Thomas Dowd, and 
still later, at Lee's Academy, Samuel Robinson, Theodore A. 
Leete, William Wallace Wilcox, John R. Freeman, Richard 
E. Rice. Will any other men ever seem to me so great as 
did these men ? Never. Will any other presence ever awe 
me as did their presence .'* Never. 

What now are the lessons .'' That was a true saying, 
" Honor is purchased by the deeds we do." And it is a pleas- 
ant fact that the instructors of our youth have been among 
the best and wisest of mankind. Of our really great men, 
whether dead or living, nearly all were, at some period in their 
lifetime, teachers. And never did their light shine more 
sweetly, or more to the benefit of others, than while in that 
orbit. They have done their work and gone away. " Their 
little life is rounded with a sleep." In quiet churchyards, 
among the gentle hills, or on the plains " cool with bowering 
trees," they rest from their labors, but their works do follow 
them. And " to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.'' 
And from the days of Socrates until now, there have been 
those to keep the memory of their teachers green, and to 



71 

thank God for the gift of these to men. And to-day we give 
faithful living teachers a warm place in our hearts. 

" We grapple them to the soul with hooks of steel." 

We assign to them a place of honor than which none can 
be higher in all the earth. 

" God's prophets of the useful 
These teachers are." 

And, to borrow a sentence from Isabella Mayo, "All the 
long course of their lives is marked by other lives lifted up." 
And why may we not say of them, as Dr. Butler did of 
strawberries, doubtless God could make a better berry but 
doubtless God never did. And so if God could have made a 
better class of men and women than those who have been the 
educators of our youth, doubtless he never did. These are 
they who, in their gentle moods, teach our children to find 
"tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in 
stones and good in everything." These are they whose words 
melt into young and docile minds and inspire them to noble 
purpose and high endeavor. These are they who have found 
the level and the fulcrum, and with this combination are 
moving the world. And not to hold such in high regard 
would be a mark of great ingratitude. 

A second lesson is, or should be, one of thankfulness for 
good books. Dr. Channing, writing of self-culture, says: "It 
is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with supe- 
rior minds. In the best books great men talk to us, give us 
their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours." 

And that is a good book, says Alcott, " which is opened 
with expectation and closed with profit." And in their 
reading the people of Guilford have exemplified the saying of 
Carlyle, "If time is precious, no book that will not improve by 
repeated readings deserves to be read .at all." And also the 
saying of Bacon, " Sc;me books are to be tasted, others to be 
swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested." More- 
over, they have and do believe in those apothegms, one of 
which declares that " Knowledge is power," and the other that 



72 

" Ignorance is the curse of God." Hence, your tree of knowl- 
edge, planted so long ago, is very strong and very fruitful. 
Recently, one with his ovvn Hand shook down a million dol- 
lars from a branch which he himself had grafted in. 

And, Mr. Chairman, we claim this as a Madison branch. 
And inasmuch as my wife, on her mother's side, is a member 
of the Hand family, I, for one, shall do all that is possible to 
retain the branch. And to the people of Madison let me say, 
" See to it that you keep the donor's memory green and be 
thankful to God that He gave you such a man. You have in 
the new academy one of his embodied thoughts, and all over 
that South Land have dropped his multitudinous thoughts 
like so many sunbeams of the ever blessed God. He had 
read the wail of the prophet, who said " My people are de- 
stroyed for lack of knowledge." And to him it was given to 
see another people in like condition, and the eye pitied and the 
Hand helped. Grand old man ! " Dear to God and famous to 
all ages." By his great gift shall knowledge be increased, 
and "knowledge," said Daniel Webster, "is the great sun in 
the firmanent. Life and power are scattered with all its 
beams." Did the sun stand still upon Gibeon, making the light 
of one day as of two.? And did that great sun ot which 
Webster speaks, when it came up to your meridian, stand 
still and then scatter with its beams a double portion of life 
and power.? I know it is not popular nowadays to believe 
in miracles, but you do not claim any such high help in those 
educational forces which, under God, have done so much for 
you and yours. But you do both believe and claim that the 
fathers and mothers of this Connecticut town did run well, 
and that you, their children, do not propose to grow weary in 
the race. A blessed light, a sweet light, a light, warm and 
rich and mellow, came out of the sky that hung over the past^ 
and the future, I am sure, is hopefully bright. The long 
line of educators who have already done such noble work is 
not yet at an end. The chain has not been broken nor do the 
links gather rust. The brightness brightens, the strength 
strengthens, the glory is more and more resplendent. 

" 1 know not what the future hath ;" no man can know, but 



73 

I believe, with Emerson, that we cannot overestimate our 
debt to the past. And while good men and true men have 
been found in all the walks of life, among farmers, mechan- 
ics, merchants, soldiers, sailors, manufacturers, bankers, 
lawyers, doctors, clergymen, statesmen, still, we have it in 
our hearts to say that none have done more than the teach- 
ers of our youth to keep strong and safe the foundations of 
our civil and religious liberty. Should a monument be 
erected to their memory, and all worthy names incribed 
thereon, broad acres would be needed for its base and its 
highest summit would be the first to catch and the last to lose 
the golden rays that the orb of day shoots forward and back- 
ward over the earth. And there it would stand, telling out to 
men a lesson clear as the noon, sweet as the light, grand as 
the eternal hills of the everlasting God. 

And now, O Guilford by the murmuring sea! by the waters 
that roll and sparkle in the golden light, fair and comely as 
fashioned by the hand of God ! may I say to mother and 
daughter, being in part the child of both, in the sweet summer 
time open your gates wide and welcome the stranger in, and 
finding, as he will, much that is beautiful for the eye to look 
upon, it will be pleasant for you to know that he will also find 
that broad and generous culture which bespeak to any ob- 
serving mind a well educated people. And if it was an honor 
once for man or woman to say, " I am a Roman citizen," why 
not make it an honor, through all the coming ages, for one to 
say, " I was born and educated in Guilford, Connecticut !" 

And may " the Lord bless thee, and keep thee ; the Lord 
make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee ; 
the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee 
peace." And may it be said of your children, and children's 
children, as Wilberforce said of flowers, "They are the smiles 
of God's goodness." 



ADDRESS. • 

CONGREGATIONAL MINISTERS. 

BY 

REV. CHARLES E. STOWE, HARTFORD, CONN. 



[Mr. Stovve is a descendant of Andrew Ward (1690) and John Meigs (1654).] 



The topic assigned me by your committee is the " Congre- 
gational Ministers of Guilford and Madison." I have been 
assured that neither laborious investigations nor elaborate 
treatment is desired. I consequently make no pretentions 
as to the freshness of my material, or as to my originality in 
the manner of its treatment. I can, in fact, do little more 
than gives names and dates, interspersed with a few scattered 
remarks concerning mdividual peculiarities or excellencies. 

First, let me say a few words as to the genesis of the 
Guilford churches: 

The First Church in Guilford was organized in 1643, under 
the pastorate of the Rev. Henry Whitfield. In May, 1703, 
by act of the General Assembly, the society of East Guilford 
was formed and the Second Church organized under the pas- 
torate of the Rev. John Hart, Farmington. In June, 1725, 
the society of North Guilford was formed and the Third 
Church organized, with Rev. Samuel Russell of Rranford, 
pastor. 

In the year 1729, after the death of Rev. Thomas Ruggles, 
Sr., there arose a very serious disturbance in the First 
Church and parish over the settlement of a minister. Rev. 
Thomas Ruggles, Jr., the son of the former pastor. Upwards 



75 

of fifty members of the church and parish withdrew and 
assembled for pubHc worship, under the ministrations of the 
Rev. Mr. Ward, and the same time petitioning the General 
Assembly that they might be set apart as a separate parish 
and no longer compelled to pay for the support of a minister 
to whom they were bitterly opposed. The matter was re- 
ferred to a committee by the General Assembly, which 
reported unfavorably on the petition. But, through their 
persistence, the petitioners at last gained their end, and the 
Fourth Ecclesiastical Society was organized May lo, 1733, 
Rev. Edmund Ward being the first pastor of the church. 

June 8, 1757, the society of North Bristol was organ- 
ized and (March 23, 1757,) the Fifth Church in Guilford be- 
gan its existence, under the ministry of Rev. Richard Ely. 

The town of Madison, incorporated in 1826, embraces in 
its limits the territory formerly included within the Second 
and Fourth Ecclesiastical Societies. North Madison is what 
was formerly known as North ^Bristol. The old Fourth 
Church of Guilford has not been in existence within the 
present century, the last minister. Rev. Beriah Hotchkin, 
having been dismissed about 1794 on account of the inability 
of the church to longer support a minister. 

From what has been said, it is clear that an account of the 
Congregational ministers of Guilford and Madison must in- 
clude the ministers of the First Church of Guilford, the 
church in Madison and North Madison, the old extinct Fourth 
Church in Guilford and the new Third Church, organized in 
1843. I shall proceed in chronological order, beginning with 
Mr. Henry Whitfield, the first pastor of the First Church. 

HENRY WHITFIELD, 1637-165O. 

Mr. Whitfield was the son of an eminent lawyer and de- 
signed by his father for a legal profession. The natural bent 
of his mind, however, caused him at length to enter the es- 
tablished Church of England as minister in Ockley, in Sur- 
rey. For twenty years he conformed to all the usages of the 
established church. At the same time, however, he had a 
strong and manifest sympathy for non-conformists, which very 



76 

soon caused him to be bitterly persecuted by Archbishop 
Laud. The crisis was reached upon Whitfield's refusing to 
read the Book of Sports. lie resigned his living, disposed of 
his private estate, and came to New Haven with Theophilus 
Eaton in 1637. Soon after his arrival he commenced the 
settlement of the town of Guilford. He was evidently the 
leading spirit in the settlement, a man of substance, ability, 
and weight of character, whose presence here has been ma- 
terialized and perpetuated in a most appropriate manner in 
what is known as the Old Stone House. For about twelve 
years he continued to exercise his ministry among this peo- 
ple, returning to England upon the establishment of the 
commonwealth. 

He was succeeded by his son-inlaw, Rev. John Higginson, 
1650 to 1659. Mt"- Higginson was born in Claybrook, En- 
gland, August 6, 1616. In 1629 he arrived in Salem with his 
parents, his father, Rev. Francis Higginson, being the first 
pastor of the church in that place. Of his early life and ex- 
periences we know comparatively little, except that he joined 
the church at 13 years of age, that he pursued his theological 
studies under Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford, and that at 
the age of twenty, during the Pequot war, he was chaplain of 
the fort at Saybroqk. In 1 641 he was engaged as a teacher 
in a school at Hartford and intimately associated with Thomas 
Hooker, a large number of whose sermons he copied for 
publication. In 1643 he came to Guilford as Mr. Whitfield's 
assistant, and, as I have already said, on Mr. Whitfield's re- 
turn to England, he took full charge of the church. In 1659 
he determined to follow his father-in-law to England. The 
ship in which he embarked put into Salem on account of 
baffling winds, and there his father's people surrounded him 
and besought him to remain with them and become their min- 
ister. Yielding to their entreaties, he became their pastor, 
remaining with them until his death in 1708 — a period of 
fifty-seven years. 

After Mr. Higginson's departure, the church seems to have 
been in a somewhat amorphous state for some years. At one 
time, greatly elated at the prospect of securing the Rev. In- 



77 

crease Mather, but doomed to disappointment. At last, in 
1664 or 1665, tiie church settled the Rev. Joseph Elliot, son 
of the Rev. John Elliot, apostle to the Indians, as its pastor. 

REV. JOSEPH ELLIOT, 1664-1694. 

Joseph Elliot was born at Roxbury, Mass., December 20, 
1638. He graduated from Harvard College in the class of 
1658. 

After his graduation he began to fit himself for missionary 
work among the Indians. November 23, 1662, he was settled 
by unanimous vote as a teacher of the church in North 
Hampton, of which Eleazer Mather was then pastor. For a 
year or so he assisted Mr. Mather in the ministry, but was 
not ordained. About 1664 or 1665 he was settled in Guil- 
ford, Conn., where he continued till his death, which occurred 
May, 1694. The homestead and farm owned and occupied 
by Mr. Elliot is still in the hands of his immediate descend- 
ants, among whom is numbered the poet, Fitz Green Halleck. 
As the Old Stone House remains an enduring monument of 
the solid, four-square character of Mr. Henry Whitfield, so, 
indeed, a venerable pear tree, which bore fruit until 1865, 
when it was blown down by a storm, may be regarded as a 
significant testimonial to the fruitfulness of Mr. Elliot's pres- 
ence here. 

There is but one universal testimony as to Mr. Joseph 
Elliot's excellencies of character. He does not seem to have 
been in any sense a great man, nor a man of brilliant parts, 
but rich in all that best part of a good man's life, his little 
unremembered acts of kindness and love. 

The Rev. Jared Elliot of Killingworth, son of Mr. Joseph 
Elliot, seems, on the other hand, to have been a man of de- 
cided genius, illustrating, perhaps, the idea that genius fre- 
quently skips a generation. 

Mr. Joseph Elliot was succeeded, in 1694, by Mr. Thomas 
Ruggles, son of Mr. John Ruggles of Roxbury, Mass., repre- 
sentative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1658, 1660 
and 1661. He was born in 1655, graduated at Harvard College 



78 

in 1690, ordained at Guilford, Conn., November 20, 1695, 
and died June i, 1728. 

He was succeeded by his son, Rev. Tiiomas Ruggles, born 
at Guilford, November 27, 1704, graduated at Yale College in 
1723. It is not known, so far as I could ascertain, with whom 
he pursued his theological studies. The ordination of Rev. 
Mr. Ruggles, as I have already said, was the cause of a bitter 
quarrel in the church. In his manuscript History of Con- 
necticut Mr. Ruggles, speaking of his father's pastorate as on 
the whole peaceful and prosperous, adds that during that time 
were sowed the seeds of dissension which were afterwards 
fruitful of so much evil. Mr. Ruggles' powers failing, the 
Rev. Amos Fowler was settled as his colleague, and afterwards 
became his successor. 

REV. AMOS FOWLER, 1 758. 

A native of Guilford, was graduated at Yale College 1753, 
was ordained colleague pastor with Rev. Thomas Ruggles of 
the First Church in Guilford. Died February 10, 1800, aged 
seventy-two. 

Leaving now for a time the ministers of the First Church, 
let us turn our attention to those of the old Fourth Church, 
now extinct, which owed its origin to the unfortunate differ- 
ence of opinion under the pastorate of Mr. Thomas Ruggles, Jr. 

The first pastor, Mr. Edward Ward, owing to the dissatis- 
faction of the people with his ministrations, resigned in 
and in 1743, Rev. James Sproat, D. D., a man of great ability 
as a preacher, became pastor of the church and continued his 
pastorate with great power and ability until called to Phila- 
delphia. He was succeeded by Mr. John Hunt ; Mr. Hunt 
by Rev. Daniel Brewer, a good and sincere man, who, through 
the influence of the writings of Robert Sandeman, became a 
Sandemanian, and as one of the tenets of that sect is, that 
none are lawful preachers except Christ and his Apostles, he 
was naturally unable conscientiously to continue his min- 
istry. 

He was followed, in 1790, by Rev. Beriah Hotchkin, under 
whose pastorate the church was dissolved. Rev. Mr. Hotch- 



79 

kin deserves more than passing mention. He was born at 
Guilford, March, 1752. His father was a respectable me- 
chanic, and though not a member of the visible church, was 
devoted to the great truths of religion, and a diligent student 
of the Scriptures. His mother was a woman of strong intel- 
lectual powers and rare spiritual gifts, — a New England 
Hannah. 

Before the birth of Beriah, she had lost four children 
through a terrible and mysterious disease, and in a moment 
of great spiritual exaltation, during divine worship, she con- 
secrated her yet unborn child to the Lord. 

It would be indeed remarkable if, with such a parentage, 
and born under such circumstances, Beriah had not developed 
a character of unusual strength and spiritual insight. Before 
reaching the age of seven he had read the Bible through. 
He sat under the preaching of Rev. Dr. Sproat, and was 
deeply impressed by the great and solemn truths so clearly 
enunciated by this distinguished divine. In 1780, he united 
with the church in Cornwall and, on account of his marked 
spiritual gifts, was strongly urged to study for the ministry, 
which he was reluctant to do, on account of his conscious 
lack of scholastic training. At last he entered upon the 
study of theology under Rev. Amzi Lewis of Goshen, N. Y., 
and was settled as pastor over the Fourth Church of Guilford. 
After his dismission, he removed to the West, and had a long 
and useful career in the ministry. His sons becoming men 
of education and marked ability. 

The Rev. Amos Fowler was followed, in the year 1800, by 
Israel Brainerd. 

In September, 1806, Rev. Aaron Button was called to the 
pastorate of the First Church. Mr. Dutton was born at 
Watertown, Conn., May 21st, 1780. 

He was fitted for college under Dr. Backus of Bethlem, 
Graduated from Yale in class of 1823. After his graduation 
he pursued the study of theology under President D wight. 

Mr. Dutton's ministry was eminently successful, as may be 
shown by the fact that the church which numbered at the 
commencement of his ministry less than thirty members, at 
the close of his pastorate numbered over four hundred. 



8o 

There were no less than six distinct revivals of religion 
during the thirty-six years of his ministry. He resigned his 
pastorate on the 8th of June, 1842, owing chiefly to the dif- 
ference of opinion between himself and his congregation on 
the subject of negro slavery in the United States. 

After one year of active service as a missionary at the 
West Mr. Dutton was taken ill and returned to the house of 
his daughter at New Haven, Conn. The remaining years of 
his life were years of infirmity and sickness, though he was 
occasionally able to preach. He died in 1849. 



• -JC ->^^| Jt^^-J^H 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



MINISTERS OF GUILFORD OTHER THAN 
CONGREGATIONAL. 



REV. R. L. CHITTENDEN, RECTOR OF ALL SAINT'S CHURCH 
(PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL), PARADISE, PENN. 



[Mr. Chittenden is a descendant of William Chittenden, 1639.] 



Biographies of ancient men and women of the past if writ- 
ten with even passable ability are interesting to most minds, 
and biographical sketches of persons who, although not 
widely known among their contemporaries, yet have done 
useful and honorable work in a certain locality are interesting 
to the inhabitants of that locality or to their descendants who 
gather to commemorate the past, and renew the tie of friend- 
ship and kindred. The sketches included in this unpretend- 
ing address, which is but a compilation, exhibit struggles with 
difficulties and conquest over them, show the work of various 
types of Christian ministers, cherishing different views of 
divine truth, introduces historical facts of interest, and illus- 
trates varieties of character. We give here sketches of the 
Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches 
of Guilford, in the order of churches named and in the order 
of time. Apologizing beforehand for possible errors and 
omissions, and premising that it is not claimed that the 
amount of space allotted to each subject is in just proportion 
to his worth or the value of his work, but the amount of de- 
tail depends, in part, on the quantity of material available. 



82 

For a part of this material the writer is indebted to the Rev. 
S. G. Neil and the Rev. J. J. Smith of Guilford and to the 
Rev. W. H. Dean of North Guilford and to Mr. VV. W. Bald- 
win, while Beardsley's "History of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in Connecticut" and Sprague's "Annals of the Amer- 
ican Pulpit" have been freely drawn upon. Besides supply- 
ing other facts the Rev. W. G. Andrews, D. D., rector of 
Christ Church, Guilford, furnished the sketches of the Rev. 
Alvah B. Goldsmith, Rev. Charles Chittenden and the other 
Methodist ministers named and of Rev. Father Dolan and 
Rev. Dr. Bennett, almost verbatim as they are given here. 

The Rev. John Gano Whitman, a Baptist minister of Gro- 
ton, was here from time to time and we therefore begin with 
a brief sketch of his life. His ministry began at Groton, 
Conn., in the year 1800. He was usually logical in preach- 
ing, seldom carrying any written preparation into the desk 
but believing in divine aid for that work. Although he en- 
countered opposition from a band of separatists, known as 
"Rogerenes," the steady work of his ministry wrought abiding 
results. He was particularly happy as a presiding officer in 
councils and associations. He died peacefully July 13, 1841, 
in the seventy-fifth year of his age, after a ministry of forty- 
one years. 

In the year 1823, Alvah Bradley Goldsmith was ordained 
over the Baptist Church in Guilford, the services being per- 
formed in the First Congregational Church. Mr. Goldsmith 
was a native of Guilford, where he was born, as my informant 
infers, December 2, 1792. When a young man he became a 
bookseller in New Haven, and was an open and bitter unbe- 
liever. A revival in the year 1820 aroused his deepest ani- 
mosity. On the 8th of January, 1821, at a celebration of the 
Battle of New Orleans, (though after the regular proceedings 
were over and most had gone home) some infidel friends who 
had been singing hymns in mockery, and among these hymns 
"There shall be mourning at the judgment seat of Christ," 
requested him to give them a sermon. The hymn had pro- 
foundly affected him and he preached in deadly earnest for, 
perhaps two or three hours. He had a struggle of two or 



83 

three days, during which God's wrath was manifest enough 
to him and he felt himself excluded from salvation. In at- 
tempting to describe the love of Christ to some of his old 
companions, that became an experience and a lasting one. 
He wrote a tiact describing his conversion, called "The Infidel 
Preacher." His experiences were evidently influenced by 
the prevalent belief of religious people at that period, but his 
conversion was certainly genuine. Being unfortunate in 
business he returned to Guilford, where, besides being pastor 
of the Baptist congregation, he worked as a wheelwright. 
Having no church building, they met in what was then the 
Academy. We infer that Mr. Goldsmith sympathized with 
the movement which led, about the year 1835, to the organ- 
ization of associations of " Old School Baptists," though it is 
not known that his church was connected with any associa- 
tion. He is described as the first opposer in Connecticut of 
Fullerism and other so-called new religious inventions, the 
term Fullerism standing for the teachings of Rev. Andrew 
Fuller, an eminent English Baptist, who modified and softened 
the extreme Calvinism which had prevailed in his denomina- 
tion and who was an earnest promoter of Baptist missionary 
efforts. The old school or primitive Baptists did not believe 
in missions and are also known as Anti-Mission Baptists. 
By degrees Mr. Goldsmith drifted away from the tenets of his 
denomination in the direction of Quakerism. It is said that 
he always held firmly to the central truths of Christianity, 
while he became less and less careful about dogmatic ac- 
curacy and set the highest value on practical religion. His 
life was eminently Christian and he was on friendly terms 
with other ministers. Those who remember Goldsmith say 
that he loved Christ, Christ was his all in all. In his family 
he was particularly kind and sympathetic. He was clerk and 
judge of probate, trustee for many widows and orphans and a 
thoroughly good citizen. He was remarkably patient under 
strong provocation, and a member of his family says that he 
never saw him angry. His strong tendency toward the 
spiritual in religion must have led to much sympathy with 
the Quaker idea of " the inward Christ," and Christ's second 



84 

coming seems to him to have been a spritual one, in the 
hearts of Christians. Mr. Goldsmith died June 12, 1863. 

The Rev. Charles Chittenden came to Guilford in the win- 
ter of 1837-8 as a missionary of the New York Conference, 
though Nathan Kellogg had preceded him. He organized 
the Methodist Church, and, under him, the building was 
erected, Mr, Chittenden going into the woods with some of 
his people and helping to fell the first tree. Services were 
held in the town house, and though the Methodists were 
much disliked by another denomination, Mr. Chittenden by 
his kindness and tact disarmed opposition, and the congrega- 
tion grew under his charge. He was a very interesting and 
impressive preacher of the emotional type, and easily drew 
tears. He was successful as a revivalist. He is remembered 
as very fond of children, whom he liked to play with, and as 
excellent company, making himself at home everywhere. His 
genial and Christian temper enabled him to overlook affronts 
and to win over those who had ill-treated him. On one occa- 
sion, while on . his way to preach, he was thrown out of a 
wagon, bruising his knee, but bound up the bruise with a 
handkerchief and kept his appointment. He seems to have 
been an excellent and very lovable man. He used to visit 
Guilford from time to time, having relatives here, and is 
remembered very pleasantly by them and others. It is in- 
ferred that his pastorate lasted but a year, as the church was 
dedicated under his successor. Rev. Hart Pease, who was 
here in 1838-9. He was stationed at various other places, 
among them at Ridgefield, Cheshire and Berlin, in Connecti- 
cut, and Hyde Park, in New York. Toward the close of his 
life he suffered from a throat disorder, and took to selling 
books. One, which he gave a child of four years — a grand- 
niece — is still cherished by her. He died in Waterbury, 
April 27, 1872, aged 66 years. We may mention among 
later pastors here, John Peck, an interesting preacher, and 
John S. Hall, who had great versatility and would " do any- 
thing" — preach, sing, conduct a Sunday-school, and so forth — 
doing all well, no doubt. 



85 

I will include in this sketch a notice of certain pastors of 
the Methodist Church in Madison. The Rev. James H. 
Perry, of the New York Conference, organized the church 
there in the year 1839, i" ^^^^ ^'^ce of very strong opposition. 
It was with difficulty that even a school-house was obtained 
for preaching, while Mr. Perry could find no house to live in 
nearer than North Madison — six miles distant. Mr. Perry 
had a resolution which no obstacles could overcome, and 
labored with unfailing ardor. He left a class, meeting regu- 
larly in a school-house. Other men of kindred spirit followed 
him and the congregation obtained a church in two or three 
years. In 1849 the Rev. George S. Hare became pastor and 
added largely to the church and the Sunday school-doing noble 
work. He was a man of ability and at the time of his death 
— a triumphant one — was presiding elder of the Poughkeepsie 
district in New York. Twenty names of other pastors are in- 
cluded in the list to the present time, many of whom are 
probably living. Had the writer more material at his com- 
mand he might give, doubtless, many other facts of interest 
relating to the earnest Methodist workers in this regard. 

John H, Dolan was born about the year 1850, studied for 
the priesthood at Holy Cross College and at the seminary of 
our Lady of Angels at Niagara Falls. He was ordained 
priest in the year 1882 and became the first resident pastor of 
St. George's Church, Guilford, in February, 1887. Father 
Dolan was a young man of engaging manners, energetic, 
cheerful, faithful, as is believed, and a favorite with Protes- 
tants as well as with his own people. He seemed to have the 
true priestly spirit of sacrifice and to be a real helper of that 
which is good in promoting Christian righteousness among 
his own people. We learn of good work done by him in the 
cause of temperance. He died here on the 3d of July, 1888, 
and was one of the first to be buried in the new cemetery 
which had been recently consecrated here. His early death 
was much lamented and his funeral was largely attended by 
members of other communions. Nothwithstanding the dif- 
ference of belief and worship between Roman Catholics and 
Protestants, worth of character and pastoral devotion will at- 
tract sincere resrard wherever found. 



^6 

In giving an account of the Episcopal clergymen of Guil- 
ford, we merely allude to the Rev Samuel Johnson, D. D., a 
native of this ancient town, who showed himself not forgetful 
of her interests but whose life-work was in other fields. 

In the early days when the parish at Guilford was without 
a settled pastor, the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson was one of those 
who held occasional services here. Mr. Punderson was a Con- 
gregational minister living at North Groton, who, in the year 
1734, declared for Episcopacy and went to England for holy 
orders. He returned and resided among the same people 
whom he had served in the capacity of a Congregational 
minister and who still retained for him a strong personal 
affection. After exercising his ministry for a time in several 
places in New London county, in 1750 he assumed the 
pastoral care of the members of the Church of England at 
Middletown, Guilford, North Guilford, Wallingford and other 
places. In, a letter to the secretary of the S. P. G. in the 
same year, he gave a detailed account of a missionary journey 
through this district. He subsequently removed from New 
Haven and assumed charge of the parish at Rye, New York. 

Bela Hubbard, a son of Daniel and Diana Hubbard, was 
born at Guilford, Conn., on the 27th of August, 1739. His 
parents were Congregationalists, but at some period, probably 
not far from the time of his leaving college, he joined the 
Episcopal church. He graduated at Vale in 1756. Having 
crossed the ocean for that purpose, he received ordination in 
England in February, 1764. On his return from England, 
Mr. Hubbard officiated at Guilford and Killingworth till the 
year 1767, when the venerable Society for Propagating the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts appointed him their missionary at 
New Haven and West Haven. Mr. Hubbard remained loyal 
to the King of Great Britain during the Revolutionary strug- 
gle. Yet he seems to have conducted himself with so much 
discretion and inoffensiveness during that dark period, that he 
was allowed to pursue the duties of his vocation without any 
very serious embarrassment. Dr. Hubbard was a man of sound 
judgment, an excellent reader of the service, and his sermons 
were well wrought and carefully prepared. He was a man of 



87 

great benevolence. During the prevalence of the yellow 
fever in New Haven in 1795, he not only remained at his post, 
but shrank from no sacrifice, no exposure, incident to his ofBce 
as a helper and 'comforter. The spirit which he manifested 
during that scene of distress endeared him to other denomina- 
tions besides his own. Dr. flubbard died Dec. 6, 18 12. 

The Rev. David Butler, D. D., was born in Harwinton, 
Conn., in the year 1763. In early life he was apprenticed to 
a mechanical trade, served for a time in the war of the Revo- 
lution, married and settled down, but, being a diligent reader, 
and coming under the influence of Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, 
D. D., a prominent Episcopal clergyman of the day, he became 
convinced that Episcopacy is of Divine authority and in time 
entered the ministry, being ordained deacon June 10, 1792, 
and priest a year later. He officiated for a short time in 
Guilford and Killingworth, but afterwards spent many years. 
as Rector of St. Paul's Church, Troy, N. Y. As a preacher, 
Dr. Butler was sensible and instructive, and as a pastor, kind 
and attentive. He died July 11, 1842, in the eighty-first year 
of his age. 

The Rev. Nathan B. Burgess was rector of the four parishes 
of Guilford, North Guilford, Branford, and North Bristol (or 
Killingworth) from the year 1801 to 1805. He had a long 
ministry elsewhere, chiefly, it is thought, in western New York, 
dying after the year 1853. 

Rev. David Baldwin was born in Litchfield, Conn., Febru- 
ary 4, 1780. He came to the charge of Christ Church, Guil- 
ford, in November, 1806, and was chosen to become its settled 
pastor March 12, 1807. Mr. Baldwin was allowed to preach 
while still a layman, under clerical supervision, in Litchfield 
county as early as 1803. He was ordained deacon in Bridge- 
port in September, 1807, and priest in Guilford April 30, 
1809. In Connecticut at that time it was customary for can- 
didates for orders to preach under clerical supervision before 
ordination. An intelligent writer says: "This practice con- 
tinued for a long time, being evidently desired by the laity to 
enable them to judge of the candidate, and there was this 
seeming necessity for it that under the early canons not even 



88 

a deacon could be ordained "sine titulo." Unless he were to 
teach, or were specially excused on other grounds he must 
have a call before he could become a deacon, and to get his 
call he must generally prove his quality as a preacher." Mr. 
Baldwin continued as rector of Christ Church, Guilford, until 
Easter, 1834, in connection with St. John's Church, North 
Guilford. During a part of this period he officiated ten Sun- 
days yearly in the church at North Killingworth, being also 
for a time in charge of North Bristol, which was at an early 
day absorbed in the parish of Killingworth. He continued in 
charge of North Guilford until 185 1, officiating in Branford 
alternate Sundays until the church there had the entire serv- 
ices of a clergyman. He remained in charge of Zion 
Church, North Branford, and Union Church, Killingworth, 
continuing to minister in those places until 1858, when infirm- 
ities of age disabled him from all ministerial duties. January 
16, 18 16, he married Miss Ruth Elliot, daughter of Wyllys 
Elliot of Guilford, great-grandson of Rev. John Eliot, " the 
apostle to the Indians." We learn of Mrs. Baldwin, that she 
dispensed a boundless hospitality in a house which was the 
social center of three or four parishes, a hospitality the more 
timely, in consequence of the distance from which many of 
the parishoners came to attend services. For most of the 
time until the year 1830 Mr. Baldwin was the only resident 
clergyman of his church between New Haven and New Lon- 
don, and his care virtually extended along the shore from 
East Haven to Saybrook, and northward to Durham. He was 
thus, in a sense, one of the ministers in Guilford for more 
than fifty years, and a most faithful one. He was a man of 
strong character, inflexibly upright, kind hearted though 
abrupt in manner, a man to whom many were strongly 
attached. He had a strong sense of humor and was distin- 
guished by a way of putting things in a sort of terse Yankee 
Saxon, which resulted in many wise and witty sayings, often 
repeated here. He was a firm churchman, holding to Epis- 
copacy with that inflexibihty which is a part of the Puritan 
character of religion. Mr. Baldwin passed away in his 
eighty-third year, universally respected and beloved. His 



89 

monument in Alderbrook Cemetery, according to the inscrip- 
tion thereon, was " erected to his revered memory in recogni- 
tion of his valued ministrations by grateful parishoners and 
other friends in Guilford and the adjoining parishes, where he 
officiated more than half a century." 

After the close of Rev. Mr. Baldwin's rectorship here the 
Rev. Messrs. William N. Hawks, Levi H. Corson and Ed- 
ward J. Durkin, M. D., were here for short periods. The two 
former served elsewhere, south and west, the last returned to 
the practice of medicine. It is thought that all are dead. 

The Rev. Lorenzo T. Bennett, D. D , who passed awav so 
suddenly less than a week ago, was the next rector of Christ 
Church, Guilford. Dr. Bennett was born in 1805, graduated 
at Yale in 1825. After his graduation he entered the United 
States navy and served for several years in the Mediterranean 
and elsewhere, resigned his commission and studied for orders 
under Dr. Harry Croswell of New Haven and was ordained 
deacon, July i, 1834, and priest, November 20, 1835. ^^ be- 
came minister in charge of Christ Church, Guilford, immedi- 
ately on his ordination to the diaconate, thus beginning his 
work there. At Easter, 1835, be became assistant minister 
in Trinity Church, New Haven, under Dr. Croswell. On the 
I2th of July, 1840, betook charge of the parish at Guilford 
as rector, and his resignation took effect just forty years 
later — July 12, 1880. He was made rector emeritus by order 
of the parish and has taken part in the service with little 
interruption since. He assisted in the celebration of the 
holy commuion on Sunday, September i, 1889, the day pre- 
ceding his death. His service at Guilford, therefore, may be 
said to cover more than half a century, as its conclusion was 
more than fifty-five years subsequent to its beginning and the 
interruption was for a trifle more than five years. The Rev. 
Dr. Andrews, who gives this sketch of his honored prede- 
cessor, adds: " I copy a few words from the address of Rev. 
George W. Banks, pastor of the Third Church (Congrega- 
tional), uttered four years ago when we celebrated the fiftieth 
anniversary of Dr. Bennett's ordination to the priesthood: 
" He has * * * approved himself as a minister of God, by 



90 

pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by 
love unfeigned, and the good influence of his faithful, Christian 
teachings, and consistent Christian living, have not been con- 
fined within the walls of Christ Church * * * but have 
gone out into all these congregations and families round 
about." To him Mr. Banks said: " We all recognize you, 
not only as rector emeritus of Christ Church, but as pastor 
emeritus of Guilford, our Father in Christ." " I add," con 
tinues Dr. Andrews, " the closing stanza of some verses read 
on the same occasion, written by the Rev. Dr. Horton, prin- 
cipal of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire : 

' When, full of honors, full of years, 
Death comes to set thee free; 
Then may'st thou gladl)' hail the hour, 

While God's own strength, thy strength shall be.' " 

His successor in the parish adds "that in the delicate rela- 
tion of a resident ex-pastor he was a model of courtesy, 
always gladly doing whatever was offered him to do for his old 
flock, always shrinking from the slightest appearance of con- 
trolling or impeding another's work. Dr. Bennet died sud- 
denly at the Guilford railroad station, whither he had gone to 
take an early train on the 2d of September, 1889. 

As the members of the three families of the sons of Levi 
bore in the wilderness wanderings, each group its allotted 
portion of the sacred tabernacle or its furniture, setting up the 
structure where needed for religious rites, so faithful men of 
different churches labor to erect a holy temple acceptable 
unto Him, " built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." 
We may rest in the assurance that, while time shall last, a 
succession of faithful men shall be raised up to continue this 
work. May these recitals encourage us all to emulate the 
virtues and achievements of those servants of God who have 
labored here — "every man in his own order." 



THE LF.GEND OF SACHEMS HEAD." 

r.Y 
GEORGE A WILCOX. OF DETROIT. MIC 11. 



[It is due both to the audience and to the author of these verses to sa}' 
that the)' were written at a very youthful age when he was a student in col- 
lege, in response to a call made upon him by a literar}' society of which he 
was a member, for something that should pass for an original poem. It is 
also proper to state that while the verses have been somewhat shaped to 
follow the general drift of the historical facts (so far as they are known to 
the writer), yet there are still considerable divergences of detail which must 
be conceded to "poetic license," without which it would be rather difficult 
to extract any poetry from the grim event on the Guilford headland ver)' 
briefly recorded. Perhaps the most interesting historical fact that can be 
authentically associated with this juvenile effusion is the discovery quite 
recently made by the writer that one of the leaders of the forces which 
pursued the flying Pequo'ts along the coast, after the slaughter at the 
Mystic Fort, and the one who, according to Winthrop, was in command at 
the traged}' at "Sachem's Head," was one of his own ancestral blood rela- 
tivts (viz : Captain Stoughton, of the Massachusetts colony, who had been 
sent with eighty men to assist the Connecticut men in their fight with the 
Pequots). Hence, if the youthful muse appears to be too sentimentally 
sympathetic with the Indian on this occasion, it may be assumed to be at 
the expense of the writer's own kith and kin of that remote date rather 
than of the early Guilford settlers, since these settlers did not arrive here 
till some two years after this hostile tribe of Pequots had been practically 
exterminated, thus rendering the peaceful settlement of this coast possi- 
ble, which we are now commemorating. Probably no one will ever seri- 
ously regret, either in history or poetry, the final disappearance of a tribe 
for which the world had no further use.] 



THE LEGEND OF SACHEM'S HEAD. 



Full many a Spring has come with its flowers; 

Full many an Autumn with leaf red and sere; 
Full many a Summer of sunsh ny hours. 

And man)' a dark Winter — hoar crown of the year. 
Thrice a thousand of moons have fled with their train 

Of deeds unremembered in historic lore; 
But a legend of old will sometimes remain 

To tell of the scenes of the brave days of yore. 



92 

Not always these fields were tilled by the hand; 

Not always the flock wandered over the hill; 
Proud forests once stood where these fair orchards stand, 

And the wolf from his lair roamed about at his will. 
No spire from the valle)' pointed up to the sky; 

No church-going bell sent forth merry peals; 
But the night air resounded with the panthers' dread cry, 

When the red man was monarch of forest and fields. 

Dark lowered the sky of an earl)^ June morn. 

In that far oflf time — the dim region of eld; 
The storm-wind moaned like a thing forlorn. 

As it burst from its cloud home, and fitfulb^ swelled. 
It smote the old forest, and the strong oaks bowed; 

It tossed the mad waves in their yeasty bed; 
While the white breakers wrapped all the reefs in a shroud. 

And murmured hoarse requiems as for souls of the dead. 

Alone on the rock stood a grim old chief 

Of a hunted band, survivor and last; 
None to share his anger, none to solace his grief. 

None to break the sad spell that his spirit o'ercast. 
The white foam o'erspread him, but he felt it not; 

The wind screamed above, but his ear was deaf; 
He thought only then of his lone hapless lot, 

For a tribeless sachem was that grave old chief. 

A leader renowned that chieftain had been, 

With warriors around him all fearless and true; 
But no foeman now fears his might, well I ween. 

Whose remnant of braves yonder seashore bestrew. 
Driv'n along the coast from the Pequot land. 

Here hemm'd by the foe 'twixt forest and wave; 
Those who turned but fell on the tide-washed strand. 

Those who swam but sank in a watery grave. 

Save only the chief, who escaped to this rock, 

Through cordon of fire, by the dawn's early light. 
And watched from his hiding the battle's brief shock 

That left none alive — and vain his own flight. 
Mohegan and paleface but wait for the day 

To search o'er the cliff" for the last stubborn foe; 
The victory scarce won if he 'scapes from the fra}'; 

His death knell their safet)' — his safety their woe. 

Still fiercer the east wind howled through the sky; 

•Still darker the storm-cloud fell on the deep; 
No voice from the waters save sea gull's shrill cry; 

No voice from the strand where the strong warriors sleep. 



93 

But asmoke curls up from the rock-bound plain, 

And floats far away on the high morning gale; 
'Tis the paleface's watch-fire, but never again 

Shall smoke of the wigwam mark the Pequots trail. 

Oh ! dark was the soul of Waurega* and drear; 

No tree of midwinter so leafless and bare; 
And his wild eye glistened, but there fell no tear; 

No sigh told the depth of the agony there. 
He turned him to seaward — to landward he turned; 

Like a knell on his ear still rung the hoarse blast, 
And his spirit, though darkened, with deep sorrow yearned, 

As he mused of his wrongs, as he thought of the past. 

For he thought of the days and the years of yore, 

When he and his Pequots were victors in fight. 
Ere the step of the paleface had trod on his shore. 

Ere his warriors had fallen 'neath the white man's might. 
And he thought of the village where at evening's calm shades, 

The huntsmen would gather from the chase on the hill; 
Of the wide-spreading lawn where the dark-eyed maids 

Would dance in the twilight when the forests were still. 

Will the}^ come, thought the chief, nevermore to my sight? 

Are their limbs all cold — their hearts like the stone? 
Of the braves who escaped from the Mystic Hill fight. 

Is their chief, like a stag, left hunted alone? 
Nevermore, lone chief, the spirit wind sighed. 

Will they come at thy call — their hearts are all still; 
The remnant that 'scaped now surge with the tide; 

Alone must thou wander like a stag on the hill. 

He thought of his fathers and the war-worn braves, 

Who had folded their arms and sunk to their sleep; 
Far eastward were left their time-honored graves. 

Where the tall oaks o'er-shadowand the wild woodbine creep. 
Often at evening had he sat by those mounds 

To tell the young chiefs of their chivalric sires; 
How they conquered in battle and gained these fair grounds; 

How here they once sat around their great council fires. 

Will they never, he murmured, when the sun falleth low. 

And the hill-sides are shaded, gather closely around? 
Must their graves all be left with the pale-face and foe, 

Unheeding to tread on the long-hallowed ground ? 
Ah no ! lone chief, though on hill-top and dell 

The sun shall set oft, none will gather a-near; 
These wilds soon will echo the browsing kine's bell. 

And the ploughshare upturn the mould buried here. 

* This name is purely imaginary, the real name of the beheaded sachem not being men- 
tioned historically. 



94 

He recalled the far hill-side where his warriors lay strewed; 

Their dark locks all clotted, their life pulses chilled, 
Beside them their hatchets, with their own blood imbrued. 

But the hands that once held them now stiffened and stilled, 
No slowly sung chaunt to tell their past glorj'; 

Nor e'en a lone grave where their corses may dwell, 
They must sleep with their girdles all blood-stained and gory, 

They must slumber and smoulder on the ground where they fell. 

Not darker the cloud that o'erhung him like night; 

Not wilder the wave that madly rushed by, 
Than the soul of Waurega, as he turned from the sight, 

Heartbroken and weary and ready to die. 
But listen, he speaks, no longer as one 

Who seeks mid earth's ruins some lone refuge to find; 
But sad as the note of the night bird the tone 

That bears the death chaunt of the chief on the wind. 

Waurega hath ta'en his last look at the sun; 
He hath folded his arms; his labor is done; 

He will follow the path his warriors have gone. 

His hatchet is buried, his bow is unstrung. 
Beside them the quiver with its long arrows flung; 
No more will the war try rise on his tongue. 

The deep snow of Winter will fall on the plain; 
The sun from the south will bring Summer again; 
The streams of the forest will swell with the rain; 

But no step of Waurega will be found in the snow; 
His eye will not watch on the trail of the foe; 
The Mohegan shall boast, and his ear will not know. 

The Great Spirit is angry. He looks from the sky. 
And his brow groweth darker, more fearful his e3'e, 
And he asks of the wind that roughly sweeps by: 

Why liveth Waurega when his warriors are dead ? 
Why bled not his veins on the plain where they bled ? 
Is his heart like a woman's ? Doth it quiver and dread ? 

Waurega will list to the voice of the chief, 
He will come at the call — to die is not grief. 
His heart is a'l wasted like the dry forest leaf. 

There are grounds for the hunter far up in the sky. 
Where the deer is not scared b}' the warriors' fierce cry, 
The Pequots are brothers, their lodges arc nigh. 



95 



Great Spirit ! that moveth on the deep-moving seas, 
That walketh unseen 'mid the tail forest trees, 

That whispereth at twilight in the low evening breeze. 

Guide the feet of Waurega to that land of the blest; 

As the pale sun of Winter sinks down in the west, 

So now would Waurega sink down to his rest. 

He ceased; and turned him where the wave 

Still lashed the rock in seething foam; 
And this perchance had been the grave 

Of him who sought a peaceful home 
In happy fields beyond the skies; 
But no ! not thus the warrior dies. 

The pale-face band came down amain; 

For watchful scouts had heard that strain. 
And knew that warrior fierce and bold, 

Knew him as one who ne'er would yield; 
Knew him as one whose blow had sealed 

The fate of foemen manifold. 

The)' seek him now with vengeful ire; 

The)' reck not that he stands alone; 
Blood is the meed which they require 

For bloody deeds his hands have done. 
Defending home and 7(.iii;-;c'i7//i Jhw 

And now, as morning light reveals 

His stalwart form against the sky, 
A mocking shout the welkin peals 

That tells him of a doom full nigh. 
He meets it with undaunted eye, 

Nor seeks to shun the impending blow; 
As he hath lived, so will he die. 

Defiant of a conquering foe. 

With fatal aim the shot is sped; 

With deadly zeal the scalp-knife bared ; 
The quarry falls — the chief is dead — 

'Tis hated Uncas lays him low. 
No more shall he this Pequot dread. 

For high upborne the reeking head 
Marks where he fell, (on staff uprear'd 

For victoiy won), and Time hath spared, 

Of him who here had shrift so brief ; 

And all his deeds, joy, hope or grief, 
These sole mementoes of his fate ; 

The ghastly trophy, dank and red, 
And wave-worn rock on which I sate. 

And dreamed this dream of " Sachem's Head." 



FITZ-GRHENE HALLHClv 



PKOl KSSOR CHARLES FREDERICK JOHNSON. TRINITY COL- 
LEGE. HARTFORD. 



[Prof. Johnson is a descendant ot William Johnson. 1658, and Francis 
Bushnell. 1639.] 



Since experience is the sole source of our practical knowl- 
edge, and the past is the sole prophecy and pledge of the 
future, and what our ancestors did is the earnest of what we 
do and will do. it is becoming in every community to review 
at stated intervals its history, and to gratulate itself on 
the lives and work of its worthy citizens whose work is over. 
Indeed, it is more than becoming, it is a duty, fur it is largely 
bv historical retrospects that nvitional character is formed and 
the communal spirit is nourished. For a few hours we live 
and think, not as individuals within the narrow horizon of indi- 
vidual eftbrt, but as members of society in those broader and 
more disinterested thoughts which culminate in national life. 
The observance of centennials and semi-centennials which 
has become so common in New England of late must be re- 
garded, not simply as the keeping of festivals whose influence 
is to terminate with the pleasant hours of their passing, but 
as a valuable means of popular political education and in no 
narrow sense as religious observances. Is it not a form of 
worship to call up the remembrance of those whom we rightly 
revere ? Did not, in all the strong nations of antiquity, the 
ancestor and founder pass over in the imagination of the peo- 
ple into the character of the demigod and divine exemplar and 
protector } In the Roman triumph the waxen images of the 



97 

ancestors were carried at the head of the procession and the 
spirits of the departed were supposed to participate in the ex- 
ultation of the living. It is right that we who come from a 
more honorable line than that of Theseus or Romulus should 
recognize in a more rational, if less artistic manner, our in- 
debtedness to our fathers. 

This duty of secular recognition of the past belongs in a 
peculiar sense to the old Connecticut towns. For they have 
a history, and it behooves them to cultivate the historic sense. 
They have had a germinal character, and have in our national 
development a weight beyond their wealth or their territorial 
importance. They have been great nurseries of men and 
centers of social principles, schools of political thought and 
initial points of the democratic evolution. There are so 
many things in this country that have no past at all, and so 
many others that have no past to be proud of, that a thorough- 
bred town like old Guilford, which has its roots in the 17th 
century, and its fine, rich. God-fearing i8th century life, its 
legends and its peculiar local character, its individuality, as 
well as its part in the state and national history, ought not to 
fail in any observance which may keep these things so worthy 
of honor in perpetual remembrance. By acknowledgment 
such as that of this week you recognize that life is not all of 
to-day, that the fathers and the children are one, bound to- 
gether in a perpetual covenant ; you reinforce the essential 
solidarity of society, you vitalize anew the atomic cohesion of 
the state, and you serve the interests of the nation on that 
side which in our amazing material development is apt to be- 
come obscured, the spiritual and moral side. 

And when you call the roll of your dead and gone worthies, 
when you name those who subdued the wilderness and made 
possible the Connecticut of to-day, or name those others of 
Guilford's sons who have gone from here into wider fields and 
won honor, or distinction, or wealth ; when you trace the influ- 
ence of Guilford in the councils of the republic or in the 
building of our great Western Empire, it is meet and proper 
that you should honor also those of her children whose 
principal life-work was in another world — the world of art. 



98 

For there is a world of art as well as a world of things, and it 
is a very important world, too, though it is one in which 
America has few triumphs to show. It is a world whose im- 
portance we \.\o not as a people understand, a world in which 
some men and women live, and a world where all men and 
women should sojourn from time to time if thev would attain 
to any other than a one-sided and abnormal development. 
In all ages the artist has been held to reflect honor on his 
country, and o( all artists the artist in words — the poet — is 
preeminent in men's estimation Even when unknown or un- 
noticed in his life, posteritv has sought for marble ot fineness 
fit to build his monument. Guilford has been the birthplace 
of a poet — not a great epic poet nor one who could embody 
in words a philosophy of life which should become a reve- 
lation to humanity, but a lyric poet of grace and purity. 
Fitz-Greene Halleck, vour townsman, was an artist at a time 
when it was even more difticult to live the artistic lite in 
America than it is now — when less sympathy was felt with 
artistic endeavor than is felt now. It is as an artist that I wish 
to speak of him, tor with his personal traits and his personal 
history many of you are doubtless well acquainted, probably 
far better so than I could become. And as a descendant of 
an early settler of Guilford, I esteem it a privilege to speak to 
vou oi the work of the most illustrious o( the descendants of 
our fathers. But allow me first to make a few introductory 
remarks on the function of the poetic art in general, and to 
speak briefly of the reasons why no great poet appeared in 
America to chronicle the struggle for independence. 

The thirty or forty thousand Englishmen who emigrated to 
New England in the 17th and early part of the iSth centuries 
furnished the element which has given tone to the American 
character. They comprised more than a fair proportion of 
educated men, and no doubt embodied a fair representation of 
the race capacity for and love of poetic expression. But the 
hunger for that expression was temporarily set aside by reason 
ot the peculiar attitude of the Puritan mind. It assumed that 
the moral world was subject to the laws oi a rigorous mechan- 
ism. The free plav of individual agency was harshly restricted 



99 

by an exalted conception of duty. Righteousness, that high- 
est ideal of humanity, was regarded as necessarily bound up 
in a line of formal conduct and not as an indwelling quality. 
Systematic dogma fenced in opinion. The external circum- 
stance of life in a new country demanded physical work, 
steady, unremitting. The theory of life was supposed to be 
settled or invdted speculation only within certain well-defined 
lines. From such a society we should expect poetry no more 
than we should expect it from a college of Jesuits, for the 
essential requirement of poetry is freedom, not civil liberty 
but freedom of the spirit. When, by degrees, the national 
consciousness took form, giving the colonies a definite char- 
acter, and even when the great event of the separation from 
the mother country took place the national intellect was not 
at once emancipated. The habit of artistic creation had not 
been formed, the taste for its enjoyment had not been fostered. 
The birth of a nation is an event which frees men's spirits 
and raises them to the height of a generous enthusiasm, which 
holds up before them an ideal that induces sacrifice, and sinks 
personal thought in higher and nobler aims. Such an event 
ought to have been creative in the highest sense, and it was so 
in many ways. That our Revolutionary War was not followed 
by an unlocking and temporary exaltation of the national 
intellect, that it gave birth to no great poetry, may be ex- 
plained on various grounds. One reason is that it was not a 
race struggle but a contest for legal rights initiated by infringe- 
ments on property and local government. It had a marked com- 
mercial side. Another reason was that society was crude in 
form and remained in intellectual subservience to England, and 
another, that the field of practical activity remained too broad 
and fruitful. There was, as yet, neither elegant leisure nor a 
traditionary past. But in spite of the modern philosophy 
which seeks to account for the poet by his surroundings and 
regards him as a sort of aesthetic plant which is sown and 
cultivated in rotation with other crops, it seems to me that 
the chief reason why no great poet was produced in America 
during the eighteenth century was that no great poet was 
sent here. If Shelley's and Keats's parents had emigrated io 



lOO 



America. Shelley and Keats would have been born here, ard 
had they grown up in America they would have been differ- 
ent men, but no environment could have prevented them from 
being Shelley and Keats, the poets. As it is, we happen to 
have Dwight and Trumbull and Barlow, but no poets of the 
first rank. After the revolution and in the first quarter of 
the present century, we find in America a society passing out 
of the provincial stage, a society vaguely conscious of its in- 
dependence but not yet so permeated with the idea as to have 
entered on the stage of unconscious, self-respecting, artistic 
production. It had still a great practical work before it. Its 
past has not yet become so thoroughly assimilated as to form 
a background of national life. It still looks for its scholarly 
and intellectual nutriment back to the mother country. It 
reads with avidity Byron and Moore and Scott, the English 
ideals of the day. A few young men essay to imitate them. 
Drake and Willis and Halleck catch the note and reproduce 
it here with vigor and naivete. Foe sounds a note of his 
own, a penetrating and unearthly minor chord, not long sus- 
tained nor powerful, piercing in accent but slight in volume. 
Longfellow begins the strain of plaintive and reflective song 
which has not yet become so classic as to be forgotten. 
Among the American poets of the first quarter of the century 
there is none whose note is truer than Halleck's. If his 
rhymed rhetoric is not so copious and powerful as Byron's, it 
is never cynical with a shallow and ill-natured contempt of 
mankind. Such self-knowledge as he had did not undermine 
self-respect nor regard for his brothers. If his songs have not 
quite the musical quality of Moore's, their gaiety is more 
simple and natural and echoes a less conventional sentiment. 
If his irrs de society lack the perfect form and dainty wit of 
Breed's, it is only because Prasd is unapproachable in lightness 
of touch and felicitous turn of rhymed expression. 

Fitz-Greene Halleck was born in this village in a house 
fronting on the Green, July 8, 1790. He could trace his 
descent from more than one ancient and honorable New Eng- 
land stock, for his mother's maiden name was Mary Eliot, 
fourth in descent from the godly John Eliot, the apostle to 



lOI 

the Indians, who was one of those engaged in the preparation 
of the first book printed in this country, the "Bay Psalm Book." 
His boyhood was passed like the youth of all well-condi- 
tioned New England boys, in a wholesome social atmosphere, 
where books were held in respect and the things of the mind 
were counted of more worth than the things of the body. His 
education was that which a studious lad of a refined nature 
would receive in the village academy, where he was the favor- 
ite pupil of his instructor, Samuel Johnson. At the age of 
fifteen he went to work as clerk in the village store here, and 
even at that early period he seems to have been distinguished 
by the natural courtesy and kindness which so marked his 
bearing in his later years. At the age of twenty-one he went 
to the city of New York, then a town of about one hundred 
thousand inhabitants. There he entered the counting house 
of Jacob Barker, one of the leading bankers and merchants of 
that day. This connection lasted twenty-one years, though 
broken by an interval when Halleck made an unsuccessful 
attempt to carry on a commercial business on his own account. 
In 1832 he was employed in a confidential capacity by the 
first Astor. There he remained for sixteen years, or until 
Mr. Astor's death. By Astor's will he received the modest 
life annuity of two hundred dollars, which was subsequently 
commuted by Mr. Astor's heirs for a lump sum of ten thou- 
sand dollars. As Halleck received for nearly forty years a 
good salary, and in addition was paid not less than seventeen 
thousand dollars for his poetry, he should have had a capital 
amply sufficient for his needs. But he seems to have been 
one of those for whom money has no affinity, though his wants 
were moderate and his habits of life not expensive. His later 
years were passed in his native village, cramped by very 
insufficient means, but cheered by the noble, womanly devo- 
tion of his sister. Miss Maria Halleck. He was buried in 
the graveyard of his native place, — literally gathered to his 
fathers, — in 1867, at the age of seventy -seven years. Such 
is the external circumstance of his life, — uneventful, common- 
place, commercial — laborious hours — an end chilled by pov- 
erty and neglect. 



I02 

But as there are two worlds, which all ol us habitually recog- 
nize ; the world of things hard, solid, visible, tangible, subject 
to material law, and another world of the mind, strongly rooted 
in the first, permeating it and sometimes controlling it. so this 

man liveii two lives. He passed habituallv from the counting 
« 

house to the fields of Arcady. where his employer could not 
follow him. For there was given to him the language of the 
imagination, the love of nature, the ability to interpret in 
words some of her simpler moods, the enthusiasm of the intel- 
lect, and the power of graceful metrical expression. These 
are not the gifts of the seer, but they are some of the gifts of 
the singer. It is these gifts that constitute the Halleck that 
is known to us, and it is his life in their domain that we follow 
with the truest interest. 

As a boy he read poetry eagerly and wrote boyish verse. 
The most genuine poetic influence under which he grew seems 
to have been that of Burns. He was not a precocious versi- 
fier, like so many of those to whom that power is given, and 
little that came from his *' prentice hand '" is worth preserving. 
Those who go for in art begin young. It was not till Halleck 
went to New York, where contact with a broader and more 
diversified life gave his verse a burden of thought, and the 
companionship and friendship of Joseph Rodman Drake 
brought him the stimulus of artistic sympathy that his genius 
found any adequate expression. There are few literary 
friendships on record more charming than that of Drake and 
Halleck. Alas, that it was so early closed by death, which 
sooner or later severs all friendships. The " Croakers," a 
series of short poems which appeared in the Ezrnifi^ Post, 
satirising with good humored persiflage the leading person- 
ages of the day in the worlds of politics and fashion, were 
their joint productions. These are as neatly done as any- 
thing of the kind that has appeared since, ephemeral, of 
course, from the local interest of their topics but abounding 
with wit and youthful high spirits and brimful of a sauciness 
which never oversteps the limits of good breeding. Some of 
them are by Drake, others by Halleck, and others partly by 
each, and the closeness of literary sympathy between the 



I03 

young men is evinced by the fact that the style and manner 
of all the verses is exactly the same. These poems attracted 
a great deal of notice at the time of their publication, the 
more that the secret of their authorship was carefully kept. 
Light satire has never been written in America with more 
spirit and fluency. 

In 1820 Halleck published " Fanny," a satirical society 
poem of considerable length, afterwards extended by the ad- 
dition of another canto. It is in the stanza of Byron's Beppo, 
and is the precursor of NotJiing to Wcar^ The Diamond Wed- 
ding, and many other productions of the sort. But satire 
which is aimed at the follies and fashions of the day cannot 
be much longer lived than they. The delicacy of the allu- 
sions is lost when the subjects are forgotten All poetry to 
last must be either absolutely perfect in literary form, or it 
must have a firm, philosophical basis, and some true in- 
sight into humanity ; and satire, to be really powerful, must be 
aimed at the weakness and sin which underlies human nature 
and not merely at the fleeting fashions of the hour. There is 
none of the soeva indignatio about Halleck, and indeed lack 
of seriousness is his weakness. Lowell characterizes him 
with his usual felicity in the Fable for Critics. No doubt he 
would have spoken still more warmly had " Marco Bozzaris" 
been written at the time. He says : — 

"There goes Halleck, whose Fanny's a pseudo Don Juan 

With the wickedness out that gave salt to the true one ; 

He's a wit, though, I hear, of the very first order. 

And once made a pun on the words ' Soft Recorder.' 

More than this, he's a very great poet, I'm told, 

And has had his works published in crimson and gold, 

With something they call Illustrations — to wit, 

Like those with which Chapman obscured Holy Writ — 

Cuts rightly called wooden, as all must admit, 

Which are said to illustrate, because, as I view it, 

Like lucus a iion, they precisely don't do it. 

Let a man who can write what himself understands, 

Keep clear, if he can, of designing men's hands. 

Who bury the sense, if there's any worth having, 

And then very honestly call it engraving. 

But, to quit badinage, which there isn't much wit in, 

Halleck's better, I doubt not, than all he has written ; 



I04 

In his v«rse a clear glimpse you will frequenily find. 

If not of a grvai. of a fortunate mind. 

Which contrives to be true to its natural loves. 

In a w-orld of b;ick-otfices. ledgers, and sto\-es. 

When his heart breaks away frv>ra the brokers and banks. 

And kneels in its own private shrine to give thanks. 

There's a g^'nial manliness in him that earns 

Our sincerest respect, (read, for instance, his "Burns,") 

And we can't but regret, (seek excuse where we may> 

That so much of a man has been peddled aw-ay. 

In 1S20 Halleck was called to mourn the death of his 
friend Drake, and the beautiful lines on his loss, beginning 

■ Oreen be the turf above thee 
Friend of my better days," 

are too well known to need more than a passing reference. 
They are serious and pathetic. Death, however, brings to his 
mind only the idea of loss. It is the departure ot his friend, 
the cessation of the hours of comradeship that is in the poet's 
mind. He takes no thought of the solemn mystery, but lays 
his myrtle leaf on the grave with the tender regret that is 
usually the slow result of time. There is not heard the '* hail 
and farewell" that rings in the pathetic lyric cry of Catullus 
at the grave of his friend, but the farewell only. This limi- 
tation to conventional sentiment, gracefully illuminated and 
simply definable, but lacking the vague and haunting suggest- 
iveness of the higher forms of art. is characteristic of the 
literature and thought of the period. 

In the summer of 1S22 Halleck went to Europe. He car- 
ried letters to Byron, Southey, Campbell, Wordsworth. Lafay- 
ette, Tallyrand and many others, and a letter of credit to all 
he met in his poetic reputation and in his geniality and high- 
bred courtesy. Many of these he was not so fortunate as to 
meet and he never obtruded himself on others. He saw 
Coleridge in a book store, but from shyness or whim refused 
to be presented to him. and thus missed the personal acquaint- 
ance of the only true poet he ever saw. 

It seems unaccountable to find in Halleck's correspondence 
no reference to Keats or Shelley, the young poets of the day, 
whom we would suppose he would have been the most eager 



I05 

to know. He saw England and Scotland under the best aus- 
pices, and dined in Edinburgh with Blackwood and with the 
Ettrick Shepherd and Balantyne, the friend and unlucky 
partner of Scott. To this journey we owe the admirable 
verses on Burns and those on Alnwick Castle, the ancestral 
home of the Percys. In these Halleck appears at his very 
best. The memory of feudal greatness appeals strongly to 
thoughtful Americans, for mediaeval England belongs as much 
to us as it does to Englishmen. The Georges and their de- 
scendants belong to them alone, and they are welcome to 
them, but the sixteenth century barons, the Scottish and 
E^nglish chivalry who fought at Flodden are of the primitive 
stock before the vigorous seventeenth century Puritan shoot 
had been transplanted to our gritty soil. Halleck views the 
stately border castle very much in the spirit of Scott. He 
dwells on the picturesque, poetic features, giving them, we 
must own, a slightly theatrical color, but sometimes hitting 
the essential, underlying poetry of the feudal society in one 
of its aspects, which is often obscured by the exact, careful, 
historical analysis of to-day. 

Soon after his return he wrote the spirited martial lyric 
" Marco Bozzaris." This poem is slightly vulgarized to the 
present generation, from the fact that most of us have mur- 
dered it years ago on the platforms of school exhibitions, but 
there is too much poetic fire in it to be quenched by multi- 
tudinous slaughters by the innocents. It is a noble ode, and 
the ode is a form in which the English language has few great 
poems to show. It is of the essence of an ode to be varied 
in movement, but vigorous and declamatory ; to appeal to 
some one of the broad, general sentiments of humanity, and 
to glow throughout with a Pindaric fervor. We have the arti- 
ficial odes of Gray, Wordsworth on " Intimations of Immor- 
tality felt in Childhood," Milton's " Hymn of the Nativity," 
Tennyson's "Ode on the Death of the Duke," Shelley's "Ode to 
Liberty," and one or two other great odes. Among these, 
for the dithyrambic quality of ringing music, for rush, fire, 
and enthusiasm, Halleck's " Marco Bozzarris " is not the least. 
The public, the ultimate judge of poetry, took it at once into 



io6 

favor and gave it the seal of its approval. Who can say how 
many American boys have received inspiration to courage 
and patriotic sacrifice from these vigorous Hues and have 
thereafter sided with the Greek against the Turk? And a 
country that gets all its boys ranged on the side of the Greek 
and solid against the "unspeakable Turk " will not lack for 
defenders when its own nationality is assailed. 

Conservatism is fatal to poetry, for of all the arts poetry 
most needs a free atmosphere. All our great poets have been 
lovers of liberty and have sympathized in the risings of 
oppressed nationalities. The devil has written some good 
music, I am told, and the beautiful art of painting has some- 
times been pressed into his service, but he has never been 
able to hire any one to write good poetry for him, at least not 
in the English language. If poetry is slavish or reactionary 
in spirit it ceases to be poetry. Coleridge, Shelley, Words- 
worth in his youth, were all apostles of freedom. Byron 
rises to the height of seriousness in his sympathy with the 
struggle in Greece, and his death in her service goes far to 
redeem a life of shallow cynicism. Robert Browning's and 
Mrs. Browning's enthusiasm for the cause of Italian nation- 
ality is another instance to prove that the poet draws his most 
creative inspiration from a generous sympathy with the 
oppressed. The dying Heine said : " Lay a sword on my 
coffin and say that I was a soldier in the army of freedom." 
It is true that there is no trace in the Shakespeare of the 
democratic idea, but the idea had then no historic embodi- 
ment, and those who mirror most perfectly the life of their 
asre look but a little way into the future. Even now, when 
the time is pregnant with great social seminal principles, 
when law is in many important bearings preverted, so that it 
is no longer solely a protector, but sometimes an agent of 
oppression and overripe conservatism, when we feel that 
society has in many regards outgrown the law, when we recog- 
nize that the great principle of democracy is about to take on 
a new form in both of the Anglo-Saxon nations, there is no 
one who can put into words the vague uneasiness of men, or 
who can formulate even in philosophical language the prob- 



I07 

able outcome of forces whose presence and inevitable power 
we all acknowledge. A great social principle is frequently so 
different in its historical development from what the intellect 
of the age conceives that it ought to be, it is so obscured in 
its practical form by the passions and prejudices men draw 
from the past, it is apparently so indifferent to the temporary 
domination of evil forces, its feeble twilight is so often 
obscured by the fogs of superstition, that the children of this 
world say confidently that there is no sun. What wonder, 
then, if even the children of light despair of the sun's rising. 
But the great idea moves forward still, though the crests of 
its waves be centuries, yes, tens of centuries, apart, and though 
Thomas Carlyle may expend in profitless and negative scorn 
the force that should have been given to an eftbrt, however 
humble, to elevate and meliorate society, and John Henry 
Newman surrender his free will to an imperious organization, 
and John Ruskin declare the past to be far better and more 
beautiful than the present, and Alfred Tennyson hide his 
head in his coronet and see in a survey of sixty years no pro- 
gress in the world towards righteousness. There is nothing 
more characteristic of the great principle of evolution than 
that it has its long periods of incubation, when something 
besides it or behind it, but greater than it, holds it in check 
till the appointed time. But these periods are depressing to 
the enthusiasm of humanity and react in countless ways on 
our faith in the present, and make us forget that it is 
our present and God's present. And thus it was that the poet 
Halleck, though stirred by the struggle for freedom on classic 
soil, did not thoroughly sympathize with the democratic spirit, 
and failed, as so many Americans did then and do now, to 
comprehend his country. I do not know to what political 
party he belonged — that is a matter of little consequence — 
but he was essentially a representative of the old-time gen- 
tility. He even seems to have thought the monarchical form 
of government superior to the republican. It is characteristic 
of him that when he heard Thackeray's lecture on George IV., 
he left the hall in indignation before the reading was con- 
cluded, unwilling to hear the first gentleman in Europe sati- 



io8 

rized. He was proud of his country, no doubt, and in his 
poems on "Connecticut," and on "The Field of the grounded 
Arms," it is plain that he regards it with affection and respect- 
But as one may, be a conscientious and earnest member of a 
Christian church without taking up the underlying principles 
of Christianity — though no doubt a better man for the con- 
nection — so one may be an educated American without 
entirely comprehending what that means. Thus Halleck's 
Americanism is a different thing from Lowell's Americanism, 
just as there is a difference between Cardinal Newman's 
Christianity and that of the average believer. There is in 
his treatment of the national theme a lack of earnestness and 
philosophical insight which is Halleck's weakness. He does 
not seem to have had the true sympathy with the masses. 
But the common people are now humanity, and he who misses 
the brotherhood of man has no message to this age. It is 
idle to say that excellence in art does not depend on the sub- 
ject treated. The subject acts on and influences the artist, 
and keeps him in its own region of petty and graceful or of 
noble thought. The quality of his work rises unconsciously 
with the worth of his aim. Burns is a poet not more from 
his music than from his broad communal sympathy. The 
poet is a partizan, not a judicial officer; but he must be on 
the right side. To the position of national poet Halleck can- 
not aspire. If we could unite the virile qualities of Whitman 
to the taste, melody, and elegance of Halleck, then we should 
have the great national poet, whose words a million men 
would carry in their hearts. 

Halleck in his old age in this village must have been a fig- 
ure at once pathetic and dignified. He seems to have 
accepted his cramped circumstances with uncomplaining stoi- 
cism. He found comfort in literature and in his memories, and 
he is to be forgiven if he sometimes resorted to temporary 
means of artificial forgetfulness. After his death his friends 
and admirers raised a monument in your graveyard and a 
monument in Central Park to his memory. If a portion of 
the fund so expended could have been anticipated, it might 
have given his old age the comforts to which a life of hard 



109 

work entitled him, and his poems would have been a sufficient 
memorial. This neglect of the poet by the contemporary 
public until after his death had made recognition useless to 
him, recalls Moore's forcible lines on the funeral of Sheridan : 

" How proud they can press to the funeral array 

Of the man whom they shunned in his sickness and sorrow; 
For bailiff's shall take his last blanket to-day 

Whose pall shall be borne up by nobles to-morrow." 

A dignified, courteous gentleman of the old school not un- 
frequently had a quality which poverty could not obscure. 
Halleck never forgot that he was a gentleman. He seems to 
have been more than merely courteous, which, indeed, is often 
but a ceremonious habit. He was essentially and thoroughly 
kindly. His unfailing, punctilious deference to women might 
have resulted from the acquisition of traditionary manners in 
his youth, but his kindness to children, the gentleness with 
which he entered with them into their childish joys and sor- 
rows, does not belong to the period of our fathers but to true 
humanity in all periods. An example of geniality and urban- 
ity is a valuable social influence in any community, but it is 
an especially valuable one in a New England village. For 
the New Englander's most radical quality is reticence. He 
has assimilated Burns' advice to 

" Keek through every other man 
Wi sharpened, slee inspection," 

without letting the other man "keek" through him. We 
have come to consider effusiveness as a mark of insincerity, 
and we lose the educating force of social intercourse because 
every man holds himself tenaciously secret. If a man speaks 
without reserve we say, in the common phrase, that he is 
" giving himself away," and so he is, for he gets no return 
communication. An American crowd is slow to warm col- 
lectively, though perhaps on that very account the heat is 
more intense when it is really diffused. There is then no 
flash jn the pan but an explosion of giant powder. But indi- 
vidually the New Englander is too reserved, even in youth, to 
reach theTull measure of social power to which his brains 
entitle him. There was a set of men in the early years of this 



no 

century, and of this class Halleck is a type, who cultivated 
the art of conversation, who recognized the forms of social 
intercourse to be a power — perhaps not so important a factor 
in the world as the Frenchman considers them, but, at least, 
something which added materially to the pleasures and charms 
of life. Now, the ease of communication brought about by 
railroads, and the narrowing of thought and interests brought 
about by the mechanical division of labor, the multiplication 
of trifling reading matter brought about by the periodical 
press, and the gradual segregation of society into classes 
brought about by the unequal division of property, all tend to 
weaken the neighborhood tie and to make the individual char- 
acter less rich and original, and individual idiosyncracies ridic- 
ulous in our eyes. So we find in Halleck and his contempo- 
raries a geniality and urbanit}'^ which we lack now, which it 
is pleasant to contemplate. The year 1825 must have been a 
delightful time. Few modern conveniences had been in- 
vented. Life was unscientific. There were no elective courses 
in our colleges. Education was simple and it did not consist 
in stuffing but in educing character. There was plenty for 
every one to do, and an apparently unlimited field for expan- 
sion. New England was inhabited by New Englanders, and 
the fertile fields of Ohio and Illinois stood ready for the 
younger generation eager to carve its fortune. The great 
west lay conv^eniently, just beyond the state of New York. 
The population was substantially homogeneous in blood and 
faith and political temper. There was no Irish vote and no 
German vote and no independent vote. Rural life was still 
loved and appreciated. The home was more permanent than 
it is now and was a more valued and central feature in life. 
The age had a firm physical basis. Nervous prostration was 
unknown. Doubt, uncertainty, unrest had not yet entered 
deeply into the wholesome soul of the world. Intemperance 
was, perhaps, more general, but it did not destroy the nervous 
system then as it does now. Of course, that age had its own 
hypocrites and quacks and defaulters — humanity does not vary 
much in its criminal crops — but it had a simple, robust, idylic 
quality which it is pleasant to find surviving in some of our 



Ill 

old Connecticut towns like Guilford and Milford and Litch- 
field and old Stratford. And that old-fashioned, provincial 
quality we find in our poet, Fitz-Greene Halleck. 

The temper of the age has changed. We feel a new en- 
vironment at every point. The faith of the Puritans has 
taken on a new phase. The sons of the Puritans have left 
the old homesteads and the old habits. Life has become 
complex, belief variegated, civilization luxurious, temper 
cynical. We of this day pass through life like travelers in 
luxurious parlor cars, whisked rapidly from starting point to 
destination by machinery. The old leisurely fashion gave 
men more time to become acquainted with their fellow trav- 
elers, and to observe the scenery by the way, which after all, 
is the true aim of life, as of any other journey. 

However, it is useless to regret the sensible and rational 
features of that unexciting life, or to wish that we could re- 
produce them. The real merit of that age lay in the fact 
that it was preparatory for the more ample days to come. 
We waste our strength if we regret any one year, or repine 
because our lot did not fall in a more hopeful time. But it is 
still worse to fall into the mistake of thinking that our age is 
essentially superior to that of our fathers, because it is an age 
of more conveniences and luxuries. In so far as it is an age 
of more humanity, so far it is a better age. But it is not a 
more beautiful age. Chromo lithography, aniline dies, electric 
lights, and nickel plate do not beautify life. Machinery can't 
accomplish everything. Great things are done by simple 
means. Better poetry has been written with a quill than 
will ever flow from the intermittent geyser of a fountain pen. 
Do not think this pessimistic, for in my mind at the moment 
was Shakespeare's pen, which Heminge and Condell tell us 
flowed with such facility that " we scarce received from him a 
blot in his papers." 

The work of our fathers was good in its day. It was preg- 
nant with material progress. They left us greater historic 
figures than Halleck's, but few more interesting ones than 
that of this courteous gentleman of Guilford, the author of 
" Marco Bozzaris." 



HXTRA^TS 
FROM HALLl-:CKS " CONNHCriCUT/ 

HON. LEWIS H. STEINER. M. D., OF BALTIMORE. MD. 

[Dn S»itt« is son-inUavr of Hon. Ralph O. SiuUh. the Hi$toii»a ot" 

Guilford.] 



Ladies and Gkxtlkxikn: 

Of all those who lovingly claim to be children of Guilford 
birth.^>f all those whom old Guiltord proudly owns as her 
children, no one is more widely known than the American 
jx^t, Fiti-Greene Halleck. Wherever English poetry is 
read, his lines occupy a high place in the esteem ot those who 
appreciate graceful rhyme or stirring martial rhythm. 

//*'»>-. where he s[>ent his earlier and later years, he learned 
to appreciate to the full the sturdy peculiarities of his fellow 
citizens, — to discern the elements that made them gxxxl. loyal 
citizens at home and distinguished men and woman abroad. 
His view*s he eraKxiied in lines, which, it is deemed fitting, 
should be read on this memorable occasion. 

I feel it no small honor to be asked to voice Hallecks 
words to this assembly of natives and descendants of natives 
of old Guilford. In body he lived among you. You guard 
his mortal remains in your lovely Alderbrook Cemetery, but 
his woals belong to a larger army of admirers, and. as one of 
them (not English but of German Reformation stock) from 
a distant State. .'lUhough K>und by many a tender tie to your 
Town. I now ask your attention to some stanzas on *' Con- 
necticut " written by him, who w.is 

*'One of the tew. the immortal names 
That were not K^rn to die," 



"3 



Still her arny rocks lower above the sea 
That crouches at their feet, a conquered wave; 

"lis a rough land of earth, and stone, and tree, 
Where breathes no castled lord or cabined slave; 

Where thoughts, and tongues, and hands are bold and free. 
And friends will find a welcome, foes a grave; 

And where none kneel, save when to Heaven they pray, 

Nor even then, unless in their own way. 



Theirs is a pure republic, wild, yet strong, 
A '■ fierce democracie," where all arc true 

To what themselves have voted — right or wrong — 
And to their laws denominated blue; 

If red, they might to Draco's code belong;) 
A vestal state, which power could not subdue. 

Nor promise win — like her own eagle's nest, 

Sacred — the San Marino of the West. 



IN. 

A justice of the peace, for the time being, 
They bow to, but may turn hirn out next year; 

They reverence their priest, but disagreeing 
In price or creed, dismiss him without fear; 

They have a natural talent for forseeing 

And knowing all things ; and should Park appear 

From his long tour in Africa, to show 

The Niger's source, they'd meet hirn with — " we know." 



They love their land, because it is their own, 
And scorn to give aught other reasonwhy; 

Would shake hands with a king upon his throne. 
And think it kindness to his majesty; 

A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none. 
Such are they nurtured, such they live and die; 

All — but a few apostates, who are meddling 

With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and peddling; 



Or wandering through the Southern countries teaching 
The A li C from Webster's spelling-book; 

Gallant and godly, making love and preaching, 

And gaining by what they call "hook and crook,"* 



114 

And what the moralists call over reaching, 

A decent living. The Virginians look 
Upon them with as favorable e3'es 
As Gabriel on the devil in paradise. 



But these are but their outcasts. View them near 
At home, where all their worth and pride is placed; 

And there their hospitable fires burn clear, 

And there the lowliest farmhouse hearth is graced 

With manly hearts, in piety sincere, 

Faithful in love, in honor stern and chaste, 

In friendship warm and true, in danger brave. 

Beloved in life, and sainted in the grave. 



VII. 

And minds have there been nurtured, whose control 

Is felt even in their nation's destiny; 
Men who swayed senates with a statesman's soul, 

And looked on armies with a leader's e3'e; 
Names that adorn and dignif}' the scroll. 

Whose leaves contain their country's histor)^ 
And tales of love and war — listen to one 
Of the Green-Mountaineer — the Stark of Bennington. 



When on that field his band the Hessians fought. 
Briefly he spoke before the fight began; 

" Soldiers ! Those German gentlemen are bought 
For four pounds eight and sevenpence per man. 

By England's king ; a bargain, as is thought. 

Are we worth more ? Let's prove it now we can; 

For we must beat them, boys, ere set of sun, 

Or Mary Stark's a widow." It was done. 



Hers are not Tempe's nor Arcadia's spring. 
Nor the long summer of Cathayan vales, 

The vines, the flowers, the air, the skies, that fling 
Such wild enchantment o'er Boccaccio's tales 

Of Florence and the Arno; yet the wing of 
Life's best angel. Health, is on her gales 

Through sun and saow; and in the autumn-time 

Earth has no purer and no lovelier clime. 



115 



Her clear, warm heaven at noon— the mist that shrouds 
Her twilight hills— her cool and starry eves, 

The glorious splendor of her sunset clouds. 
The rainbow beauty of her forest-leaves, 

Come o'er the eye, in solitude and crowds. 
Where'er his web of song her poet weaves; 

And his mind's brightest vision but displays 

The autumn scenery of his boyhood's days. 



And when you dream of woman, and her love; 

Her truth, her tenderness, her gentle power; 
The maiden listening in the moonlight grove. 

The mother smiling on her infant's bower; 
Forms, features, worshipped while we breathe or move. 

Be by some spirit of your dreaming hour 
Borne, like Loretto's chapel, through the air 
To the green land I sing, then wake, you'll find them there. 



XXIII. 

And who were they, our fathers? In their veins 
Ran the best blood of England's gentlemen; 

Her bravest in the strife on battle plains. 
Her wisest in the strife of voice and pen; 

Her holiest, teaching, in her holiest fanes, 
The lore that led to martyrdom; and when 

On this side ocean slept their wearied sails, 

And their toil-bells woke up our thousand hills and dales. 



Shamed they their fathers ? Ask the village-spires 
Above their Sabbath-homes of praise and prayer; 

Ask of their children's happy household-fires. 
And happier harvest noons; ask summer's air. 

Made merry by young voices, when the wires 
Of their school-cages are unloosed, and dare 

Their slanderers' breath to blight the memory 

That o'er their graves is " growing green to see ! " 



1 1(^ 



Reaeath thy Star, as one ot the Thikiekn. 

Land ot my lay I throngh many a battle's night 
Thy gallant men stepped steady and serene. 

To that war-nnisic's stern and strong delight. 
Where bayonets clinched above the trampled green. 

Where s;ibres grappled in the ocean fight; 
In siege, in storm, on deck or rampart, there 
Thev hunted the wolf Hanger to his lair. 
And sought and won sweet Peace, and wreaths for Honor's hair! 



And with thy smiles, sweet Peace, came woman's bringing 

The Eden-sunshine of her welcome kiss. 
And lovers' flutes, and children's voices singing 

The maiden's promised, matron's perfect bliss. 
And heart and home-bells blending with their singing 

Thank-offerings borne to holier worlds than this, 
And the proud green of Glory's laurel-leaves. 
And gold, the gift to Peace, of Plenty's summer sheaves. 




GUILFORD AND MADISON IN LITERATURE. 

BY 

HENRY P. ROBINSON, OF GUILFORD. 



[Mr. Robinson is a descendant of Thomas Robinson, l666, and Rev. 
Henry Whitfield, 1639.] 



We draw our lineage in literature from the great era in 
English letters, the era of Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton. Our 
first writer, Henry Whitfield, a native of Mortlake in Surrey, 
born in 1597, was contemporary with "King" Elizabeth, rare 
Ben Jonson, Sir Thomas Brown. When Whitfield, a gradu- 
ate of Oxford, was ordained in 161 8, the slab was just laid 
down (1616) over Shakespeare's grave; a little later Milton, 
fair and graceful, was " the lady " at Christ College, Cam- 
bridge (1625) and soon after Whitfield returned from New 
England (1650), Sir Isaac Newton was a schoolboy, flying 
kites by night with lighted paper lanterns attached to frighten 
the natives of Lincolnshire. 

Guilford was born with a book in her hand, for the 
leader of the Guilford colony, Reverend Henry Whitfield, 
" preacher of God's word at Ockley in Surrey," had published 
in 1634 a second edition of "Some Helpes to stirre up to 
Christian Duties." 

These are a little bundle of sermonettes, dedicated to Lord 
Brooke, full of quaint conceits and poesies, yet simple, search- 
ing and sympathetic. He draws a minature of the world, true 
for all time : 

"The world is as a great Ant or Emit Hill, where there 
are multitudes of those busie creatures, carrying and recarry- 
ing strawes, stubble and other such luggage and every one 
busie in doing something and intent to adde and bring to the 
heape: So in this world there is a mighty and general busi- 



Ii8 



nessc, an ciirncst liiidi^iDg about, a conlimicd soliciloiisncsse, 
ploltiiij^ and vvoikiii;; upon the lace ol the carlli ; I'lie 'rinic- 
scrvcr is biisic t<> lit his saiK\s lo cvi'iy wind, iniiiks what is 
in )j;ra(i' and lashion witli the times, and studies how he may 
phiase the most. The deepe and iluuf^; headed poUlieian, wiio 
dweis, many limes, llic next dooi In Alheisme, is hiisie in 
wheehii}^ about his owiie ends, is dark in his ways and usually 
bke a boatman h)oks one way and rowcs another. The Am- 
bitious man puts on Absolon's behavior, is busie in seekin<;" 
applause and respect and how hi' may be eairied ah»lt, as a 
h'ather, upon the l)ii'ath ol men. Thi' Vobiptuous nian i.s 
l)usie to diawout thi' (piintessenee ol all sinnes and vanities; 
to .sueke the sweet out ol lliem lo aira\' liimsi-ll like a ehild 
ol I'aradise and to have his part m all the pleasmes ol nature," 

In 1651-52 a series of lettiMs, {gathered up by Whitlielil on 
his way lo ICnghnid, were published in London, addressi-d by 
Mayhew, ICliol and others '' To the Parliament and Couneil 
ol State in l'ai|;land," eoneerninj; (jospel work amonj.;" the 
Indians in Ni-w I'.njd.uid. Whit held wrote an introduction to 
t lu'se U'l tei s, entitled " llu- liidit .ippeaiinj; more' and more 
unto thi" perfect day;" he wrote also a eonclusion, entitled 
"Sticn^th out of weakness, or a <;lorious manifestation of the 
linlhci pio'Mcss ol the ;;os|iel .nnonj'.sl the Indians." 

lie says; " y\nd now the way being cleared, I proceed to 
make my hmnble retpiest to your honors rcspeeting the work 
anion;', the Indi.ms. and as you have given it feet so you 
would give it wings that it may gel above all diiricullies which 
may be cast in the way. Truly the woik is honorable and 
\voilli\' ol \dni cnc and inmost allecliojis and to be laid in 
youi bosome.s, ili.il it mny Icel the waimth and inllucnccof 
your lavor and best respeets ; it tending so much to the good 
of the souls of these poor wild creatures, midtitudes of them 
beinj.; undci the |>ower ol Sal.ni and going up and downewith 
the- ch.iins ol darknesse, rattlin;.; at llu-ir heels." Mi\ Whit- 
lield, returning lo ICngland, scttlc-d as a pastoi' in VVii\chester, 
where so many royal folk arc buried, ilu- soil is said to be 
composed of the dust ol ktn;;s and cpieens, and in the tail of 
1(>57 he ;,',a\e his own Ixub' lo its sacred eai'th. 



lU) 

Reverend John I fi{j^{;inson, niinislcr in (luilloid, 1641-1659 
|l)()rn in Claybiook, Loicx'Slcr, 1616, deceased Dee. (), l/oH,] 
pnblishcd an ele( lion sermon (166;^) and ollui diseonrses ; 
also "An alleslalion lo llie Cliui < ii llisloryol Ni'w I'.njdand 
by Cotton Mather," (the lanious IVIa^nalia) which was printed 
in the introcbiet ion. I i|iiole h'om it the: noble inscription to 
Cotton Mather translated ironi the Latin, dated Salem, jaiui 
ary 25, i6()7. 

" vciH;r;ii)li: Matlicr, loved <il (.ud, 

Kcj{)i((: lo Sf.v lliat wlicic liiy Uci li;ivc nnd, 
A |jl(!sst!(l tr:iiii of Ciirisliim sons ;u(^ s('<'m 

All pressing "11 to be wlicic llioii liasi liccii. 
(Mid ni;il1l lli;il ciidlfSS l.r llic holy lilH' 

Of (liosc who love ;ilid do hi'. wi>ll<, diviind 
'llioii, Conoii, sliiinnn lioin sm li In-.ivcidy Iii'IkIiIs, 

Amid ;i lirolhriliood <il kiiidic(i W^jUih, 

I'dllcnv lll\' sill's, wlioiii <.iid li:illl (.'.llidrd lioliic, 

'I'liyscll ;i mill Miii;;-sl:ii lo Hiosc who yd sli:dl loiiir." 

Reverend Joseph ICIiot, son of the a[)ostle [born Roxbmy, 
Mass., Dec. 20, [638; Harvard ("olle<j;e, 165H; deeease<l May 
24, 1694], came into the pastorate in 1664.' I (piote Irom a 
letter ofjoseph to his brother I'.enjamin of Roxbmy: 

'■ (.iiii.iiii!i), M;iy r:-;, \(.(i.\. 

|)c;ii liidilici: \'otiis i iciiivi-d :iiid ||ii)ii).;hl on. 'I lie i|iirslioii is, how 
lo live in Ihis woihl so ;is I.) Iiv(! in Ikmvch ,^ llisliiml lo Ui-c\i \\\i- lirlni 
up :inion^ so ni;iny noss winds iiiid <;d<tii'S iind oiilliind ;ind lio:iiilin(.', ol 
crc.'itiiics iis Wf inrcl wiili:d upon lliis si;;i of k'I-''^*^ i""'l '''«- * * * * 
(^loatiiK! smiles slop ;inil inlire Aw.iy lliu allri lions from [(^siis Cliiisl. 
(yrcaliiic frowns cncomp.iss and Icmpi'sliiiilc llir s|)iiil, ih.il il thinks it 
(loth well to !)!• anf.;iy. Ilolh ways, ^r.ar. is a losci. * * * * I m;d(i; 
Ix'sl way in a low ^^al(•. A llioii spiiil and a lii^li sail londiiri will he 
dan>^i:ioMS. 'Ihitreforc, I i)r(;i)aic to livi; low. My w.'iy is nol lo r;isl hc- 
foK-hand, lull lo work with (Joil hy tin: day, * * * * 

i'ray foi your own soul, pray foi Iriusalnii, and |)iay haul loi yoiii poor 
Ijrothcr. I- ''•" 

Reverend John (Joltoii, son ol tin- laiuoiis John, who 
"loved lo sweeten his month with a piece of Calvin before 
goin^^ to slce[)," s[)ent some itncerlain time in Cltiilford about 
1660. He had the wit of a mocking bird to catch a langiiaj^e, 
and was linguist eiioii}j,h to pray in Indian at his Indian lec- 
tures, like Ro}.;er Williams, who was an excellent Indian 



120 

scholar. Mr. Cotton's more noticeable and unique literary 
work was in aiding the apostle Eliot to correct the second 
edition of his Indian Bible (1663). [Born Plymouth, Mass., 
March 15, 1639-40. Harvard College 1657, died Charleston, 
S. C, Sept. 18, 1699.] Samuel Hoadly [born Guilford, Conn., 
Sept. 30, 1643,] educated at Edinburgh and at King James' 
college there, published The Natural Method of Teaching 
(1698), which went through eleven editions before 1773; also 
an edition of Phcedrus, with notes, and one other school book 
of grammatical purpose [London, 1683]. He was for some 
years a teacher in Kent and a clergyman without a benefice, 
and died master of the public school in Norwich, England, 
where he is buried with his wife in St. Luke's chapel in the 
cathedral. He was also author of two bishops of the English 
Church; one of whom. Bishop Benjamin Hoadly, published 
seven of his father's Latin letters to Graevius of Saxony, a 
celebrated teacher of the sons of lords, princes and kings. 

We come now to " a man of pretie parts," of whom, if we 
are not proud, our stinting humility will be the greater sin. 
Rev. Jared Eliot, son of Rev. Joseph (born Guilford Novem- 
ber 7, 1685; Yale College 1706, and Fellow of Yale; de- 
ceased April 22, 1763), was a true son of our soil, who 
literally grappled with our Guilford ground. We shall please to 
remember him for this and for his pastorly " Essays upon 
Field Husbandry in New England " (printed and sold by T. 
Green, N. London, 1748; also published entire by Edes & 
Gill, Queen street, Boston, 1760). 

These six essays, written at Killingworth for winter evening 
entertainments (1747- 175 8), passed through several editions, 
circulated in England, and Benjamin Franklin showed his 
wisdom by sending for fifty copies of the first essay. 

Let us read from them : "The low, sunken lands are of 
three kinds, viz.: Thick swamp, boggy meadow and smooth, 
even shaking meadow. This last is called cranberry marsh. 
I began last fall (1747) to drain another meadow of forty acres 
up in Guilford woods. This was a shaking meadow ; a man 
standing upon it might shake the ground several rods round 
him. It seemed to be only a strong sward of grass roots laid 



121 

over a soft mud of the consistence of pancake batter. There 
is reason to beheve that the shaking meadows have been 
formerly beaver ponds. The meadow was deemed so poor 
that none would take it up. I was pitied as being about to 
waste a great deal of money, but they comforted themselves 
that if I spent it unprofitably others that stood in need of it 
would get it. They are now of another opinion. I ditched 
it, the ditch serving as a fence, and then sowed red clover, 
foul meadow grass, English spear and herd grass. The cost 
of reclaiming was twenty pounds. If life and health be con- 
tinued I design to try liquorice roots, barley. Cape Breton 
wheat, cotton, indigo seed and wood for dyeing ; as, also, 
watermelon seed, which came originally from Arch-Angel, in 
Russia. * * * I found at my farm at Guilford a sort of 
shell sand equal to good dung. It has produced five crops 
and is not yet spent. How long it will last we do not 
know." 

In the sixth essay, after much discourse about the mulberry 
tree, which he recommends for silk culture, this man of the 
" chymical brain " sits down under the expectant shade of the 
mulberry and sentimentalizes as follows : 

" There is one thing further that may be an inducement to 
plant these trees, as such groves are proper places for retire- 
ment, study and meditation. * * * The loneliness of a 
grove, the solemn shade, the soft murmur of the air in the 
tree tops, all conspire to soothe our passions, calm the pertur- 
bation of the mind, recover our fleeting, wandering thoughts 
and fix them on proper objects. Here is true pleasure and 
serenity beyond all that pomp and noise can give. Surely it 
is not without foundation that in all ages and countries trees 
and shady groves have been the favorite subjects of poets, 
both heathen and divine. It is needless and it would be end- 
less to recite what has been written on this darling subject." 

Mr. Eliot published many sermons, essays and books, was 
fellow of the Royal Society and corresponding member of the 
London Society of Arts, and corresponded with Franklin, 
Bishop Berkeley, President Stiles, John Bartram, the Quaker 
naturalist, and others of note. His letters in manuscript are 
in the Yale University Library. 



122 

The cloak, that Jared Eliot had swung hither and yon over 
our shaking meadows, fell upon the sedentary shoulders of 
Reverend Samuel Johnson, his pupil, our great " studie- 
man ; " first president of Columbia College,* professor of 
belles lettres and rhetoric ; a linguist, who could think in 
Hebrew and with actual scholarly enthusiasm enough to wish 
to set up the study of Hebrew in America. And how it would 
have delighted Moses and the children of Israel to see this 
little slip of a Hebrew grammar, which he prepared for that 
purpose [ist Edition 1767]. 

Doctor Johnson brought out anonymously in 1743 (2d ed.), 
"An Introduction to the Study of Philosophy, exhibiting a 
general view of all the arts and sciences." I find in it a 
mellifluous definition of poetry, thus: 

" Poetry is a polite, lively and beautiful description of either 
persons, thing or facts, whether real or imaginary, with an 
elevation and dignity of thought,' and a kind of enthusiasm of 
the soul, attended with the advantages of numbers and har- 
mony and every kind of ornament, that language is capable 
of; by means of which, it brightens and enlivens the imagina- 
tion, raises and enkindles the whole soul, while it fills it with 
the most profitable instruction, attended with the most ex- 
quisite pleasure and delight." 

In 1746 Doctor Johnson published anonymously "Ethices 
Elementa, or the First Principles of Moral Philosophy," dedi- 
cated to Bishop Berkeley and printed by Benjamin Franklin. 
I take from it the following quiz : 

"Let therefore, every one, in order to the right knowledge 
of himself and his duty and happiness, thus seriously reflect 
and inquire concerning himself: I. What am I.'* II. How 
came I to be what I am.'' III. For what end was I made and 
have my being.-* IV. What ought I immediately to do and 
be in order to answer the end of my being. ^ V. Whether I 
am what I ought to be.'' If not, VI. what ought I to do as a 
means in order to be and do what I ought and in order finally 
to answer the end of my Being? " 

* A son of Dr. Johnson was afterward president of this college (1791-1800), and still later 
Dr. William Harris, a descendant from Rev. Henry Whitfield, held the presidency for eighteen 
years, (1811-1829). 



123 

These were the days when it is said every ambitious clergy- 
man in New England of a literary turn wrote a catechism, 
until there were some three hundred of them extant. 

The full mention of Johnson's works would make a biblio- 
graphy of them. He was life through 'a painful student' and 
a writer so prolific, we may say of him what George III said 
to his English namesake, "that he had written enough, if he 
had not written so well." 

Rev. Thomas Ruggles used to say, a little tartly, from con- 
troversial reasons, " that Dr. Johnson was always of the opin- 
ion of the last book he read"; by which it would seem that 
his temper was rather sympathetic than disputative ; in con- 
versation he was very social, instructive, agreeable ; much of 
the gentleman, according to the diary of Doctor Stiles. 
Bishop Berkeley, his friend and correspondent pronounced 
him "one of the finest wits in America." He corresponded 
with Linnaeus, also with his great protagonist, the king of 
English letters, Boswells Johnson, alive. [Born Guilford, 
October 14, 1696, Yale College 1714, deceased January 6, 
1772]. 

Artillery seems to have been an early military arm of Guil- 
ford and a general must once have been hid here in a parson, 
as appears from a sermon, delivered by Rev. Thomas Rug- 
gles, Junior, to an artillery company at Guilford, May 25, 
1736, upon "The Usefulness and Expedience of Souldiers 
as discovered by Reason and Experience and countenanced 
and supported by the Gospel." [Printed and sold by T. 
Green, N. London, 1737]. 

I quote from it : " It is not enough that they understand 
the Exercise of the Gun or Spear or other Military Instru- 
ment : to brandish the Sword and conduct themselves grace- 
fully in every part of exercise. 'Tis not eno' that they un- 
derstand the words of Command and know how to March 
regularly; keep their Ranks and Files. But they should 
Obey the Commands of their Officers chearfully and under- 
stand the several Beats of the Drum, that great warlike 
Instrument; they should learn the reviving and animating 
sound of the shrill Trumpet, that noble and reviving sound; 



124 

the Trumpet, that great Resemblance of the Alarum to the 
final Judgment. They should also learn how to Charge their 
enemies successfully, how to Besiege our enemies, to Batter 
down or Scale their walls, Break their Ramparts and force 
them to Surrender. * * * * Besides, I can't but think 
it part of the Business of Souldiers to understand the ways 
of Fighting by Sea. * * * Boarding their Enemies and 
Mastering their Opposers, together with heaving of Bombs, 
those Terrible Instruments of Destruction, and all other parts 
of that way of warring." So the good man heaves his bombs, 
words luckily, though " horribly stuffed with epithets of war." 

Mr. Ruggles published several sermons, and left the manu- 
script history of Guilford (to 1769) which has since been 
variously printed. [He was born in Guilford, Nov. 27, 1704, 
Yale College 1723, and Fellow of Yale, and died Nov. 19, 
1770]. 

Reverend Jonathan Todd, pastor of the Second Church, 
East Guilford [born New Haven, March 20, 17 13, Yale Col- 
lege 1732, deceased February 24, 1791,] published an elec- 
tion sermon of May 11, 1749), upon "Civil Rulers, the Min- 
isters of God for good to men; or the divine original and 
authority of civil government asserted;" also two funeral dis- 
courses on the death of Rev. Thomas Ruggles, junior, deliv- 
ered in the First Society on the Sabbath after his decease, 
Nov. 19, 1770. 

The Baldwin family of North Guilford has done literary 
work above the common grade. Thus Abraham Baldwin, 
Senator from Georgia, whither he had removed, wrote the 
charter of the University of Georgia, of which he was presi- 
dent; and as member of the Convention [it is said] prepared 
the draft of the National Constitution of 1787. 

" His memory needs no marble: 

His country is his monument, 

Her constitution his greatest work." 

[Born November, 6 1754, Yale College 1772, he died March 
4, 1807.] 

A sister, Ruth Baldwin [1756], was wife of Joel Barlow, the 
author and publicist; of whom it is said " she was three 



125 

months learning to be graceful," so as to be presented at the 
French Napoleonic Court, to which Mr. Barlow was minis- 
ter. But this is rather a playful North Guilford thrust at the 
scrupulosity of French manners. I had hoped to find, in the 
absence of literary remains by Madame Barlow, that she was 
the author of the hasty pudding, that was the avowed motive 
of the pudding-poem by Mr. Barlow. But the pudding was 
made by the pretty maid — some Nanette of a Savoyard inn. 

About these days (1785), with an abandon and let-go that 
is unlike her, Guilford seems to have fallen into some fit of 
frivolity. Accordingly, Elijah Norton, a man raised up for 
the occasion, issued a bull against fools, entitled " Fools 
in Their Folly" (published by Collier & Copp, at Litchfield, 
1785). This appears to be rather a buncombe sermon, 
plainly spoken or published to Litchfield, but covertly 
addressed to Guilford, against "pleasures, sports and plays," 
against " laughter and mirth," against " evening street halloo- 
ing," and other efifervescening of animal spirits. 

Colonel Rufus Norton (born North Branford, August 9, 
1756; deceased 1812), a soldier of the Revolution and a 
teacher of some note here, was a man of deep religious feel- 
ing, which expressed itself freely in verse. He left a volume 
of unpublished poems of graceful expression, consisting 
mainly of hymns, divine songs, reflections, lamentations, com- 
plaints and prayers. These are severely introspective and 
gloomy and full of religious melancholy, which we should 
attribute reproachfully to the times if we did not see in our 
own day disease of the emotions diligently cultivated by 
our own modes of thought. 

I quote from a " divine song ": 

" While crowds of blind mortals this world are pursuing 

And anxiously toiling to make themselves great, 
I see them, with sorrow, descending to ruin, 
And equally dread their example and fate. 

This world is naught else than a splendid delusion, 
A scene of vexation, of pain and confusion; 
Affording no real delight in conclusion. 
So hapless is man in his temporal state." 



126 

< 

In her time in England (1723), Mary Wortley Montague 
declares " making verses is almost as common as taking 
snulT, and you know one cannot refuse reading and taking a 
pinch." In New England it is said to have become much 
more common, since there were some who did not take snuff. 
Much of this common-as-snuff writing found its way, very 
properly, into the graveyards, where not so properly " our an- 
cestors seem to have reserved their witticisms principally 
for tombstones and funerals." This style of literature has 
been more quaintly and quietly developed in North Guilford, 
from whose epitaphs of the eighteenth century I quote : 

r Passengers, survey our Ago, 

Engravd upon this mold'ring pag« 
Vew what is Exchang'd away 
For blooming Youth, these beds of cla'. 

2 Here lies a friend who did intend 

This zion up to Rear 
But cruel Death did stop his breath 
Cs: would no longer spare. 

3 He like a liower is cut down, 

Death nipt him in his prime; 
That we mite se the vanity 

And shortness of our time. 
Our 3-outhful age to be compar'd 

Unto a flower in June. 
In the morning it shines fresh and fair 

And's dead before 'tis noon. 

4 Under this Stone lies a dear one, 

Who was a pleasent flower. 
Whose Dust God keeps, wjiilst that she sleeps 

Untill ye Rifein'd hour. 
Then will our Lord with Sovn word 

His own Dear Children Raise; 
Teach them high to Glorify 

With Songs of Endless Praise. 

Reverend Doctor John Eliot of East Guilford, grandson of 
the " worshipful " Jared, (born Killingworth August 24, 
1768; Yale College 1786, and Fellow of Yale; deceased 
December 17, 1824), 'published numerous discourses, among 



127 

them an election sermon, delivered before the Governor and 
the Honorable Legislature May lo, 1810, on "The Gracious 
Presence of God, the Highest Felicity and Security of Any 
People."- This was a tall, thin and slender man, his legs 
encased in black stockings and small clothes and his head 
carried in abroad-brimmed hat. He was polite and scholarly, 
shrewd and wise. 

Reverend Aaron Button (native of Watertown, Conn., May 
21, 1780; Yale College 1803, and Fellow of Yale; deceased 
June, 1849 ;), published a sermon, delivered before the Con- 
necticut Society for the Promotion of Good Morals, October 
18, 1815. He maintains the wisdom of executing existing 
laws and declares " it is easier to subdue sprouts than to root 
up sturdy oaks." He himself was a sturdy oak, whose roots 
ran deep into our Guilford earth and branched upward into a 
noble family tree. 

Reverend Doctor David Dudley Field (born in East Guil- 
ford, 1781 ; Yale College, 1802 ; and deceased 1867,) published 
several books of local history; a statistical account of Middle- 
sex county, 1 8 19; a history of Middletown and of Berkshire 
county, and of Pittsfield, Mass., with the Brainerd genealogy 
and sermons. 

I quote from his notes on Rev. Henry Whitfield's church, 
dated Ockley, England, Sept. 3, 1848: 

" I attended church, morning and evening, at Ockley. It 
was affecting to me to attend church there, because the prin- 
cipal settler and patron of my native town, Guilford, preached 
the gospel there more than two centuries ago; because from 
that parish and vicinity about forty colonists, followed him 
into the American wilderness from attachment to his holy 
and faithful ministry, and because from his disinterested 
public spirit, his pious self-denying zeal sacrifices, instruction 
and example, great privileges and blessings have come to the 
people of Guilford. The church is strong, built with stone 
and consists of a nave and chancel. The ten commandments 
are over the communion table, which is neatly ruled in." 

John P. Foote (a native of Guilford, born June 26, 1783; 
deceased 1867), wrote the biography of his honored brother, 
Samuel E. Foote (Cincinnati, i86o), and a history of the 



128 

schools of Cincinnati, Ohio, (1855). The biography has much 
suggestiveness of manly character and is exceptionally robust 
reading. The History of the Schools of Cincinnati, a neat 
illustrated octavo, tells the story of one of the noblest efforts 
for higher education made in our land. The book is a treasure 
of practical ideas with discussions on matters permanently 
related to education. 

The appearance of Fitz-Greene Halleck in 1790 marks an 
era in our history of letters; when out of the restful serenity 
of village life, the speechful power of hill and plain, the 
waving elms and shadowy maples, the heapy mounds on 
Guilford Green with the roar and dash of the sea upon the 
dull and scraggy land, there rose up this figure of the poet, 
who sang so well and tunefully, that all the nation listened. 

What was there here in 1805-10 to turn a merchant's clerk 
into a poet .'' There are some indications of a certain cul- 
mination at that time of excellences of character and gifts of 
.spirit and mind that were a factor in the birth and breeding 
of the poet. Of these, there remain only Sarah's* eyes and 
her spirited wit, that sparkles still charmingly to-day. Then, 
verses of social gallantry, verses further, indicative of a new 
and finer fancy, were written, stimulated by the spirited 
activity of the new century. Under the more impelling in- 
fluence and larger life of the metropolis, Halleck pursued his 
career, until he had secured a permanent place among the 
poets of our first national era. We ourselves have seen him 
in his declining years, when the gaiety and fire of youth were 
mellowed in the serene benignity of age. We have heard 
his voice with its cultured cadence and impressive emphasis. 
We have been charmed by his conversational ease and full- 
ness, and have listened to bis reminiscences of men and 
things belonging like himself to an older social world that 
was passing away. We see still the surtouted, pliant figure 
of this gifted man, moving with gentle bearing through our 
streets, giving us the cue of courtesy while lifting his hat 
with kindly grace to all; so he has left an impression of 
humanity that has endeared the poet and the man to our 
memory. 

*Mrs. Sarah Redfield Todd. 



129 

George Hill (born in Guilford, Jan. 29, 1796; Yale College, 
1816; deceased Dec. 15, 1871,) is well remembered; a man of 
light figure and polite bearing, who looks out shyly as he 
passes by, dark-eyed and gentle. He was a poet of much 
natural grace and elegance. His volume of short poems, 
published by D. Appleton & Co., passed its third edition in 
1 87 1. These are classical and finished in form, and to some 
extent, autobiographical. Many, and those in his best vein, 
have a strain of gentle sadness, that requires in the reader a 
special sympathy of understanding, not always at the reader's 
command. Classic lands, religious devotion and nature are 
the general motives of his fancy, treated with refined and 
chastened spirit. "The Ruins of Athens," " Love of Spiritual 
Beauty," "^Egean Vespers " and the "Maiden's Song to the 
Violets" have special merit. The longer poem, "Idlings 
with Nature," shows nicety of observation and has marked 
excellence, much local reminiscence and scenic description, 
graceful pictures of our own scenery, rock, stream and wood, 
and their shy populace. 

I quote a single short poem, " The Fall of the Oak," an 
autumn scene: 

" A glorious tree is the oak ! 
He has stood for a thousand years, 
Has stood and frowned 
On the woods around 
Like a king among his peers. 
As round their king they stand, so now, 

As the flowers their pale leaves fold. 

The tall trees around him stand, ariayed 

In their leaves of purple and gold. 

The autumn sun looks kindly down, 
But the frost is on the lea, 

And sprinkles the horn 

Of the owl at morn. 
As she hies to the old oak tree. 

Not a leaf is stirred. 

Not a sound is heard. 
Save the thump of the thresher's flail, 

The low winds sigh 

Or the distant cry 
Of the hound on the fox's trail. 



130 

Winding his w«x\ the wvH>di«*n's stMfn; 
Till lost in the Jcxvv ^kx^m 
11»*t shtvuJs the hilU 
Where tVxx- «nd chiU 
The stnv^liii^ $unbc;»ws vx->imc; 
Where the lAst t^owvv s:.-ents tl^c fixvsty air; 

And hArk ' oVr hijrhl And hollow. 
As the {v*rtrid)ie whirrs fuMn his le«fy lair. 
His strokes, t'- ■ <• ■" -v-< !,>'\>xv 

Like a ship at sta. 
Rvvks the old oak tiiee. 

Thtv>n$1\ the folds ol" his gxxi^eous vest. 
You may see him sh^ke 
A ltd the t\'^ht oxrl brtwk 

With a hoot trxMW his leafy otf st. 

She will cv>me. but to 6nd him goixe frwnt where 
He stood at the glimpse of day; 

Like a cloud that peals, as it melts in air. 
He has passed, with a crash, away ! 

Though the spritTg in gj^een. and the fiost in gv»ld 
No mote his limbs attire. 

The wild sea vrave 

He shall mount and brax-e 
The blast and the battle-6te; 
Shall spread his white wii\gs; to the wind 
And thunder on the deep. 

As he thundered ere 

His bow was bare. 
On the high and stomty steep." 

Reverend Abraham Chittenden Baldwin, a man of excellent 
Baldwin jxiris, (born North Guilford. April 26, IJ>CV4 ; Bowdoin 
College, 1S27 ; deceased July, 1SS7 ;) published a number of 
sermons and sketches as of Joel Barlow ; also a prize ess.iv. 
entitled " Letters to a Christian Slax'eholder " (Boston, 1S57). 

Ralph Dunning Smyth was a native of Soulhbury, Conn,, 
(born October ^S, 1S04; Yale College, 1S27; deceased Septem- 
ber II. !S~4>, The writings of ^^r. Smyth especially appeal 
to us, for he, beyond all others, has preserve*.! our past and 
done a work, let us confess, which only those who ha\*e mel- 
lowed, or are mellowing, with years can justly value ; a work 
that belongs to the humanities of letters, though it brings no 



13' 

noisy and moneyed fame. His genealogy of Guilford families 
and History of Guilford, this published from his manuscripts, 
with additions, in 1 877 ; his early record of Yale College, down 
to 1767, which was the foundation of Professor F. B. Dexter's 
more extended annals ; these, left in beautiful manuscript 
form, represent, in part, his literary labors. Mr. Smyth main- 
tained correspondence and acquaintance with native and for- 
eign antiquaries and scholars, among whom he was a well 
known authority. 

There are always touches of pathos in early references to 
the first settlers, as in this passage, which I quote from Mr. 
Smyth's record of Rev. Henry Whitfield : 

"Various and contradictory indeed were the reports which 
came back from those who had hitherto ventured their lives 
and fortunes in that distant land. Many accounts from New 
England were painful and dreary, but others were more satis- 
factory and hopeful. They spoke, indeed, of present priva- 
tion, of bitter suffering and frequent deaths, before which 
many of the nobler and gentler spirits were passing away. 
Still, they were prophetic of a better future and promised 
eventually liberty and freedom to worship God both for them- 
selves and their posterity in the land of their exile." 

Full portraits, even pen pictures, of our Guilford and Mad- 
ison writers would present some notable figures. 

Thus, Mr. Smyth was a man of distinguished mien, with a 
certain majesty of form and feature and that full cast of coun- 
tenance which we observe in the marked men of an era, and 
which we see, wherever the unusual exigencies of life, gener- 
ation after generation, have forced their way into the physical 
and facial expression. He was of judicial and scholarly aspect, 
and kindly, attentive manner, with voice expressive, resonant 
and toneful; his tall form, slightly inclined and sometimes 
wrapt in an air of thoughtful abstraction, he moved briskly 
across the Guilford green, a strong, familiar figure here for 
nearly fifty years. 

Charles Wyllys Elliott (Guilford, May 27, 1817 ; deceased 
August 23, 1883 ;) published, through Charles Scribner & 
Company, his most valuable work in two volumes : The 



132 

History of New England from A. D. 986 to 1776. This was 
also brought out by Triibner and Co., London. The avowed 
object is " to trace the growth of ideas and principles in the 
development of man in New England." The book is rather 
a curiosity-shop of history and illustrates with painful fidelity 
all that is monstrous and peculiar in the earlier annals of the 
colonies. Let us not think these things formed the main cur- 
rent and business of New England life, though they rose like 
froth and scum upon its troubled surface. The common im- 
moralities may be charged off-hand to the ignorant and 
vicious, in days of fondness for magnifying iotas of evil ; while 
the Quaker persecutions, the fussy contentions of faith, the 
slaveries and the witchcrafts, form decidedly the higher 
graded criminal record of the professedly most virtuous, 
devout and intelligent. In 1876 Mr. Elliott published, 
through James R. Osgood & Company, Boston, the Book of 
American Interiors ; a broad folio with illustrations and de- 
signs of luxurious dining halls, well-booked libraries and brie- 
a-brac-ed studios in various parts of the country. In 1878 D. 
Appleton & Company brought out his last work on Pottery 
and Porcelain ; a handsome octavo, richly illustrated and his- 
torical. 

The preface suggests a differentiation, that belongs to rather 
an advanced condition, not merely of means but of personal 
culture and enrichment, that would be of infinite service to 
the retired merchant, or business man, provided he has not 
neglected his education nor spent his enthusiasm ; it declares: 

" I would like to remind the reader that there are a few, 
who have money enough for all reasonable wants and who do 
not care to waste time and life in getting more money, for 
which they have no special uses. These persons find a peren- 
nial occupation in the study, the comparison, the purchasing, 
the collecting of all that, which will illustrate their subject of 
study. * * * * I hold that whatever makes home inter- 
esting, beautiful or useful, is, or should be, interesting, beau- 
tiful or useful to all the world. We may well ask, when we 
go to a house, " What have they there to tell us ; what to 
show us .'' What have they collected to interest, to please, to 



133 

instruct?" He then takes up man, as " the only cooking ani- 
mal," and traces his history by the way of pottery and porce- 
lain from the earliest to the present times. He tells for a 
quaint bit that "a belief still exists in Silesia, that there is a 
mountain, out of which, cups and jugs spring spontaneously, 
as the mushrooms shoot from the moist soil of the plain." 

Mr. Elliott published also "Cottages and Cottage Life" 
(1848)," Glimpses of the Supernatural" ([852), "San Domingo 
and Its Hero" and " Remarkable Characters and Places in the 
Holy Land" (1868). He was a member of the New York, 
Ohio and Connecticut Historical Societies, lectured before the 
Lowell Institute of Boston, contributed to the North Amer- 
ican Rcviciv, and wrote much on the recent labor movements 
of the day. He came of a family famous for personal beauty. 
As a man he was eccentric, original, genial, humane, compan- 
ionable, attractive and interesting. 

Reverend Doctor S. W. S. Dutton of New Haven (born in 
Guilford March 14, 1814; Yale College, 1833; deceased Janu- 
ary 26, 1866;) published numerous discourses, historical and 
biographical,* with contributions to the Cojigrcgatioiial Quar- 
terly and the New Eiiglander, as on " Slavery and the Bible, 
Slavery and the Church, Slavery and Infidelity" (the Nciv 
Englander, September, 1857,); also a sermon on "The Fath- 
ers of New England, Religion Their Ruling Motive in Their 
Emigration." His writings illustrate the humane and gen- 
erous temper of the man. 

Reverend Samuel Fiske of Madison (a native of Shel- 
bourne, Mass., July 23, 1828; Amherst College, 1848;) died in 
the army May 22, 1864. Stories of this man's humor used to 
fly over to us in ante-war days and the fair man himself, blue 
eyes, brown hair and buoyant form, would sometimes on 
Sunday morning look kindly upon us from the high pulpit of 
the First Church, and his voice in a gently persuasive 
meander would come down to us. We remember the famous 
prayer, that did duty all over the diocese — it deserves to be 
rubriced into common service — a prayer addressed more to 
earth than to heaven : 



134 

"That the Lord would bless the congregation assembled, 
and that portion of it which was on the way to church, and 
those who were at home getting ready to come, and that in 
his infinite patience he would grant the benediction to those 
who reached the house of God just in time for that." 

Mr. Fiske published, under his pseudonym, first as letters 
in the Springfield Republican, "Dunn Browne Abroad " and 
"Dunn Browne in the Army" (Nichols & Noyes, Boston, 
1866). These are graphic, genial and. bright as the man 
himself. 

Richard Edward Smyth, son of R. D. Smyth (born in 
Guilford, Sept. 2, 1846; Yale College, 1866; deceased Dec. 18, 
1868 ;) was one of the senior editors and the largest poetical 
contributor to the Yale weekly Courant, which somewhat 
revolutionized the style of Yale publications. Mr. Smyth 
was a young man of marked originality and intellectual tem- 
per, versatile and imaginative. He developed, during his 
short life, a distinct literary ability, that was not without 
fruitage. 

I quote a sonnet of his from the Yale Courant of 1865 : 

" Two worlds there are: the one this world we've known; 
The other is the world, that ought to be, 
Which never, save in dream-thoughts, can we see, 

Possessing cold reality alone: 
Yet oftentimes, it seems as if the stone 
Of our dead lives might vivify again. 
From petrifaction, budding fresh and green. 
With Hecks of sunlight on their verdure thrown; 
The world might yet be righted, oft it seems. 
Nay oft, as if the right did now exist; 
And sometimes then, a tide of splendor gleams, 
Lighting our hearts with glory through the mist, 
Bj' strength-inspiring breexes are we kissed; 
In dumb delight, we stroll by gushing streams; 
We bask, luxurious in bright, warming beams; 
As if on earth, no tigers tore, or deadly adders hissed." 

Many remoter relations in letters reflect honor upon Guil- 
ford and Madison. If it were not for these " leetle yellow 
spots," as DeTocqueville called Connecticut, there might 
have been no " Uncle Tom's Cabin," no Atlantic cable liter- 



135 

ature, no new Yale treasure house of literature, and possibly 
no National Institution for Deaf and Dumb enlightenment in 
letters. These notable achievements, at all events, are closely 
linked with the names of Roxana Foote Beecher, Sophia 
Fowler-Gallaudet, David Dudley Field, and Simeon Baldwin 
Chittenden. 

Such, at a glance, are Guilford and Madison in literature. 
Reviewing the double field of it, we find a few of our writers 
enter into our national history of literature; and Whitfield 
and Higginson, Jared Eliot and Johnson, Halleck, Hill and 
Charles Wyllys Elliott, though they may be " never thumbed 
and greased by students," may remain permanent representa- 
tives of their times. However variously this literature, quo- 
table or unquotable, may appeal to us to-day, these are our 
sacred writings and scriptures; the lettered messages from 
the past to us of our own ancient scribes and studie-men. 
We cannot stay to note the circumstantial setting with the 
sympathetic influences from time to time, that have deter- 
mined the subjects and modes of thought with the wordy 
features and manners of expression of our writers of the past. 
We recognize that literature is the last product of our soil; 
that many a bushel and pound of things must be picked up 
and bartered away before a line can be either written or 
printed. 

We may in general regard all literatures as so many 
changing fashions of prevailing forms of thought, radiating 
from the more powerful centers of influence and grouped 
around various hypotheses, the real or made ground of pro- 
visional, empyrical systems. 

Even since Guilford and Madison were settled, the condi- 
tions of letters have changed. Thanks to science and new 
motors of motion, the world has come into a more general 
commonwealth ; and the influence of other peoples and places 
is about to give a fuller perspective and a less sectional out- 
look upon the problems of human inquiry. We move in ideas 
and tendencies along confluent streams from unnumbered 
historic and prehistoric sources. The past is so much a part 
of the present, is so interlinked and woven with it, that his- 



136 

• 

torians of primitive civilizations tell us the modes of thought 
and the assumptions of primeval savages are not yet cast out 
from our refined philosophies. At present, and for a little. 
Teutons and Saxon-English in our politics and, ethics ; then 
for a little Jewish Christians in our speculative philosophy of 
life, we may regard these to-cay as passing phases of devel- 
opment out of which we shall advance into the broader con- 
ditions of a larger observation and experience. A just separa- 
tion and distinction in the higher departments of knowledge 
must also finally release us from many confused entanglements 
in science, morals and philosophy. By cultivating a more 
general historic sense and sympathy and by discriminating 
the sweetened luxuries from the substantial necessities of 
thought, our imagination and intelligence may be ex- 
tended and kept open for new growths and advancements. 
Present upheavals in ideas are the natural, and healthful 
methods, by which the inner forces of human activity break 
through the thick crust and incubus of inherited philosophies 
with their insufficient and outgrown routines. After the toils 
of research and discovery come the periods of orderly con- 
vention, conclusion and rest ; all to be broken up anew by 
further invigorated research and discovery. This is the order 
of healthful human progress ; every peaceful period of trust 
and repose, followed by the strife and storm of unsatisfied 
inquiry ; every absolute advance, proving the final relativity 
of our knowledge and thought. 

But the laws of letters and of thought will remain the same 
and development will still have its schools, grades and de- 
grees. There will remain states of mind, inferior and supe- 
rior; with noble and ignoble infirmities and intellectual 
atmospheres with alternate calms and storms. Nomenclature 
and names, under conventional order, will continue to serve 
the lighter exercises of popular fancy, and men will be marti- 
nets for this and for that ; feeling will pass for intelligence ; 
self-interest and establishment will be constant and powerful 
factors, while the emotions, like wild voltaic forces, will 
passionately seize upon whatever reflects them best, or 
promises them most. 



is; 

But dominated, as it should be, by scientific inquiry, ex- 
tended, as it must be, by human sympathy and responsiveness 
of condition, man's patient intelligence will continue to ex- 
plore the fields, that reach worlds-wide above and about him. 
So forever will stand the problem of adapting human instinct 
and reason with its idealized longings and sore sensibilities to 
the surroundings of a world so full of terror and charm. Fear 
of the sublimities, that lurk harmless around us, may subside 
as an element in mental action, and as men enter upon a more 
expansive condition of mind, with the more healthful exercise 
of the imagination in legitimate fields of fancy, a calmer atti- 
tude may come in place of the present, formulated dread. 

The undying instincts of aspiration, which humanity can 
no more lose than it can lose the breath of its body, not lost 
but turned into other forms, will run out into wider channels. 

The stability and constancy of affairs, resting as always 
upon the broad foundations of the physical basis, destined 
through future enlargements to give new buoyancy to human 
life, may still be inspired and solaced by the genial fancies of 
philosophy. And so advancing from period to period, with 
more and more intelligent wonder, human awe will not cease 
to turn devoutly to that " infinite obscurity, in which our 
slender thought appears for an instant," moving like a gleam 
of light through the not unfriendly powers that enfold us. 



THE RECEPTION. 



In order to give the desired opportunity for the former 
residents and their descendants to meet the present citizens 
of Guilford, the Committee of Arrangements decided to have 
an informal reception on Monday evening, and appointed 
Messrs. H. W. Spencer, George S. Davis and F. P. Knowles 
as a committee of arrangements. The committee .were very 
fortunate in having the large and commodious Hubbard house 
offered for the purpose by the occupants, Mr. and Mrs. John 
B. Hubbard and Miss Mary Hubbard. The house was beau- 
tifully decorated with bunting and flags and the front illumi- 
nated with festoons of Chinese lanterns. The committee 
were assisted in receiving the guests by Mrs, Lydia Coan, 
Miss Kate Hunt, Miss Anna Stone, Miss Mary Munson and 
Miss Alice Skinner. 

The first three ladies were dressed in the costume of a cen- 
tury back, while Miss Munson and Miss Skinner, in dresses 
of the present day, made a contrast that added to the attract- 
iveness of all. Miss Kate Hunt, as Martha Washington, was 
especially noticeable. 

The genealogical tree of the Hubbard family tracing the 
family down from George Hubbard, a beautifully carved chest, 
dated 1635, a fine old chair, 200 years old, and a large collec- 
tion of rare coins and china, were on exhibition in the different 
rooms. The house was crowded during the three hours of 
the reception, and nearly all the speakers were seen there as 
well as many of the residents of Guilford and Madison. 

Mr, Robert Foote, the celebrated violinist, and a descendant 
of Guilford families, gave some very fine music during the 
evening. 

Advantage was taken of the presence of so many of the 
former scholars of the Institute to hold an informal reunion 



139 

in the parlors of the North Church. There was a large 
attendance. Capt. Charles Grisvvold was called to the chair, 
and short speeches, giving reminiscences of school days under 
Mr. Mack and his successors, were made by Rev. E. C. Starr, 
E. Elliot Kimberly, Miss Susan Ward, Capt. Griswold and 
others. 

The committee on decorations had arranged for a line of 
Chinese lanterns around the green, but the high wind pre- 
vented lighting them, which was the only disappointment in 
the evening's programme. 



THE PARADE. 



The parade in Guilford on Tuesday morning, Sept. loth, was one of the 
most interesting events of the Anniversary Celebration. The long pro- 
cession presented many vivid pictures of the brave and simple lives led by 
our forefathers in the wilderness, and illustrated the quaint customs and 
methods prevailing in the early days of the settlement, contrasting them 
with many of the improvements and advances made through the progress 
of two hundred and fifty years. The line, when completed, was of great 
extent and variety, a part of it being the contribution of Guilford's sister 
town of Madison (East Guilford.) 

The main Guilford division was under the direction of Capt. Wm. Lee, 
Chief Marshal, assisted by Mr. Henry Bullard. 

Directly behind the marshals rode four well-mounted aides, two of them 
being young ladies, sitting their horses gracefully, and presenting an 
attractive variation of the usual order. The aides were: 

Albert H. Phelps, Miss Helen Rossiter, 

Frank Rossiter, Miss Alice Dudley. 

These aides were followed by an amusing escort in the shape of a small 
boy mounted upon a diminutive donke}^ in gay trappings. 

Foremost in the Guilford Procession came the first platoon of the Guil- 
ford Battery A, C. N. G., commanded by Lieutenant B. S. Honce. 

This company preceded the carriages containing invited guests. 

Owing to the early hour at which the procession was to start, and the 
fact that many who were to occupy carriages came into town that morning, 
some difficult}' was experienced in finding the intended occupants of par- 
ticular carriages. The order for the first four, as arranged, and partially 
carried into efTect, was as follows: 

FIRST CARRIAGE. 

His Honor Lieut. Gov. S. E. Mervvin, Prof. Samuel Hart, D. D., 

Ellsworth Eliot, M. D., Alvan Talcott, M. D. 

SECOND CARRIAGE. 

Senator Joseph R. Hawle}', Col. T. W. Higginson, 

Justice Andrew C. Bradley, Rev. George W. Banks. 

THIRD CARRIAGE. 

Senator O. M. Piatt, Rev. J. E. Todd, D. D., 

Prof. W. R. Dudley, Hon. Henry Barnard, LL. D. 



141 

FOURTH CARRIAGE. 

Hon. N. F. Wilcox, M. C, Hon. Lewis R. Steiner, M. D., 

Mr. Joel Benton, Rev. J. A. Gallup. 

Other speakers, representatives of towns, colleges, and historical soci- 
eties, guests especially invited, and the local clergy were assigned to later 
carriages. 

Following the carriages conveying the guests and speakers, came seventy 
of the Grand Army men belonging to Parmelee Post No. 42. They vsrere 
commanded by Charles Griswold. Directly behind the Grand Army 
organization appeared, upon horseback, an Indian chief and squaw of 
w^ild and barbaric aspect, who attracted great attention along the line of 
march. The former giving voice, from time to time, to blood-curdling imi- 
tations of the historic war-whoop, more suggestive, perhaps, of the recent 
attractions of the "Wild West," than of the former presence of the red 
man along these peaceful shores. This highly entertaining chief and 
squaw were represented by John H. Hotchkiss and Frank E. Beckley. 

Next in the order of procession came the Menuncatuck Drum Corps, 
discoursing stirring music, and followed by the Washington Engine Co. 
No. I, Charles B. Norton, foreman. 

These men, in their red shirts, drawing the famous old hand engine, were 
a picturesque addition to the line. After them came CoK's Band of Hart- 
ford, whose martial appearance and fine music was a most pleasing feature 
of the parade. 

Following the band came the members of the St. Albans Lodge of 
Masons, S. W. Landon, master ; and the Menuncatuck Lodge of Odd 
Fellows, Albert H. Benton, noble grand. These organizations were suc- 
ceeded by the Eagle Engine Co., No. 2, William Hotchkiss, foreman. 
This company is composed of boys between the ages of fifteen and 
twenty. They also drew a hand engine, and made a most creditable dis- 
play in their bright and appropriate uniforms 

The chief charm of this anniversary parade lay, naturally, in the repre- 
sentations of the life and manners of a former time exhibited on the vari- 
ous floats sent from the diiTerent town districts. 

The first of these was contributed by Leetes Island, and displayed a 
well-executed scene from Indian life. 

Near a spreading pine tree stood a large and ingeniously constructed 
wigwam, at the entrance of which sat a dignified old Indian chief attended 
by one of his braves. A pretty touch of romance was added to the pic- 
ture by the gay figure of the chief's bright-eyed little daughter standing 
beneath a canopy of stretched skins. 

The occupants of this float were as follows : 
William H. Norton, R. Wayne Leete, 

Harry Watrous, Driver, William J. Leete. 

This effective little Ind.an group was most appropriately succeeded by 
the large, and extremely interestmg float, upon which was depicted the 
original purchase, from the Indians, of the territory now comprising the 
town of Guilford. The scene here presented was a striking one. The six 



142 



dignified, and picturesquely aiiired pioneers, holding treat}* with the 
Indians, represented the foremost men in the little settlement, headed by 
the Rev. Henry Whiitield. An attractive addition to the suggestive scene 
was the quaint group of Puritan children clad in their straight little stulV 
gowns and prim caps. Several of these strictly-reared little maidens were 
seen to be attentively studying their Bibles, casting, however, occasional 
demure glances at the by-standers as the procession passed along. 
The occupants of this pioneer float were : 



riRITANS. 



Walter R. Stciner, 
Lloyd Kitchel, 
George Landon, 
Thomas Landon, 
George E. Skinner. 



Edna S. Seward. 



Gertrude R. Sieiner, 
Bertha R. Stciner, 
Mela H. Skinner, 
Emma S. Seward, 
Amy L. Steiner, 



Arthur Lombard, 
Jessie Loper, 



Hattie Foote, 
Driver — S. R. Snow. 



Preserving the correct historical sequence, the following float, which was 
contributed by the Clapboard Hill District, represented one of the earliest 
homes built by the first settlers upon their arrival, to serve them as tempo- 
rary shelters in the wilderness. This was a well-contrived log cabin; within 
which was clustered the planter's little family, and as many of his personal 
goods, probably, as the "Mayflower" could allow to one householder. 
Behind the tiny openings, which answered for windows in the rudely con- 
structed dwelling, knelt stalwart planters, leveling their primitive muskets 
at imaginary foes, reminding the spectator most forcibly of those perilous 
times when the forefathers carried their guns to meeting, and lived in daily 
terror of their lurking, ever-watchful enemy, the Indian. The persons tak- 
ing part in this historic representation were : 

Waller Griswold, Frank Barren. 

Edward Griswold. Loper Evarts, 

Frank Griswold, Mrs. F. Griswold, 

Leiws Griswold, Miss Minnie Griswold, 

Driver — Edgar Parmelee. 

The float succeeding the early log cabin exhibited one of the most inter- 
esting representations in the line. The scene being not onl}- well pre- 
sented, but commemorative of a romantic and authentic event in the early 
history of the settlement. This was the first wedding in the famous "old 
Stone House," at which Sarah Whitfield, the daughter of the Rev. Henry 
Whitfield, was united to John Higginson, the ancestor of Col. Thomas 
Wentworth Higginson of Cambridge, Mass. This pretty scene was charm- 
ingly illustrated by the blushing bride in her ancient wedding finer)-, and 
the correctlv-aitired, decorous voung Puritan bridegroom. The bride's 



143 

father was the officiating minister, clad in the dignified garb peculiar to his 
ofTice in those early days of clerical importance. Beyond the little group 
of gaily dressed wedding guests, lurked a watchful, keen-eyed Indian, 
adding a somewhat uncann)' suggestion to the happy scene. 

Tradition relates of this primitive wedding feast that it consisted solely 
of "pork and peas, and rye bread," all of which were effectively set forth 
upon the prettily decorated platform. 

This interesting float was the contribution of the "Stone House" and the 
ladies and gentlemen taking part in the scene were as follows : 

Miss Susan B. Chase, Miss Bertha Palmer, 

Frank P. Knowles, Albert Brewer, 

Ernest Fowler, Walter Goldsmith, 

Driver — Lewis Fowler. 

The old Stone House farm was also represented in the line b}' a deco- 
rated wagon laden with the flowers and fruits of the season. 
Driver — F. F. Beebe. 

Following these contributions from the Stone House came two ancient 
vehicles, drawn by antiquated steeds, and looking as if they and their 
oddly-dressed occupants had been veritably resurrected from^the past. 

The first of these conveyances was a genuine " one hoss shay," aged 125 
years ; it was occupied by a dignified and important-looking couple, 
elaborately dressed for their period, and representing Governor William 
Leete and wife. 

The second conveyance was of a somewhat difTerent pattern from the 
foregoing, being swung "perilously high in air," and representing, possi- 
bly, even greater antiquity. In it rode the " observed of all observers," 
a smiling, blushing bridal pair, with their small, brass-studded hair trunk 
strapped on behind. This primitive couple, starting upon their simple 
wedding journey, drew forth the hearty sympathy and admiration of the 
throng. The occupants were Henry W. Leete and wife. 

Guilford Grange, No. 8, was next represented by a finely decorated wagon 
laden with farm products. Its occupants were : 

Wilson Hinsdale, Edith Banks, 

Nellie Hubbard, Mary Phelps, 

Ruth Lee, Mrs. John Hubbard, 

May Petrie, Driver— John B. Hubbard. 

Still another amusing, as well as instructive, feature of the procession, 
was the float occupied by Mrs. Andrew Foote, busily making tape after the 
primitive fashion, and Mrs. Leverett Stone deftly spinning at a small flax 
wheel, according to the quaint and picturesque custom of the foremothers 
of New England. 

Following these representations of vanished home industries came a 
most pretty and homelike scene representing an old-fashioned quilting 
party. Six prim, but cheery old ladies, in caps and spectacles and severe- 



144 

looking gowns, sat comfortably up to the quilting frame, nodding pleas- 
antly at one another, and gossiping, with evident relish, as they thrust their 
skillful needles in and out. The ladies on this float were : 

Miss Nellie Snow, Miss H. Bishop, 

Miss Ida Snow, Miss L. Nettleton, 

Miss Mamie Bishop, Miss Etta BuUard, 
Driver — Herbert Jones. 

Mr. William Dowd, Guilford's veteran "shoemaker," followed the 
quilting bee, presiding over an old-time shoemaker's shop, whereon shoes 
were being manufactured according to the most approved methods of "iv 
ancient time." 

Mr. Dowd was assisted in this primitive industi}^ by Robert Munger, 
and Robert Kelsey. This shoemaker's float was driven by Frank Riche. 

From North Guilford came an enterprising couple on horseback, the 
wife riding upon a pillion behind her lord and master, after the fashion in 
which our foremothers were forced to go to " mill and to meeting" or re- 
main at home. This spirited dame and her substantial spouse, were clad 
in garments suitable to their long ride through the almoU trackless forest, 
and were greeted with much enthusiasm by the spectators. The lad}' and 
gentleman assuming this interesting disguise were Mr. P. K. Hoadley and 
llvena Hoadley. 

Following this adventurous pair was a large float from Leete's Island 
carrying a company of early settlers, men and women, clad in the char- 
acteristic costumes of their period. The}' were : 

John Rogers, Abbie L. Leete, 

Annie B. Fowler, Jennie E. Leete, 

Willie Culver, Park Culver, 

Irving P. Leete, Josie Leete, 

Ulmer Rogers, Hattie Rogers, 

Sarah G. Leete, Nellie Leete, 
Driver — John Rogers. 

Plodding slowly after the procession came the curious figure of the 
"old leather man." His garments of leather, rudely pieced together, 
were successfully copied by Mr. Ellsworth M. Leete of Leete's Island. 

With this old individual the Guilford division of the parade terminated. 
Then followed : 

THE MADISON PROCESSION. 

The Madison division of the celebration parade was made up of detach- 
ments from the various town districts, under the direction of Mr. J. Samuel 
Scranton, Chief Marshal, assisted by Mr. J. Brannan, and Mr. Payson 
Tucker. When at East River the final additions were made to the line, the 
Madison procession stretched for more than a mile along the old Boston 
turnpike road. 

It was headed by the Madison Drum Corps, riding in a wagon draped 
with the stars and stripes. Their stirring music was a most pleasing feature 
of the parade. 



145 

Foremost in the attractions of the Madison procession was the finely-ap- 
pointed float occupied by a group representing the original purchase from 
the Indians, by the planters and early minister of the territory afterwards 
called East Guilford. This float was appropriately decorated with spreading 
cedar trees, skins of animals, and Indian trophies ; the sides of the plat- 
form being draped with white cotton, upon which were inscribed certain 
amusing, and authentic, details of the bargain,— notably the price paid to 
Uncas for the tract of land lying between East River and Tuxis Pond. The 
Indians, of whom there were seven, were gorgeously attired in gay beads 
and blankets, war-paint and feathers ; the planters appeared in the quaint 
and effctive costumes of the olden time, and the early minister in the dis- 
tinctive dress of his period and profession ; all uniting to form a most 
striking and suggestive tableau. The gentlemen personating the Indians 



were : 



L. Ives Bushnell, New Hav'n, Ct., Duncan Puller, Norfolk, Va., 

Mr. Walter Crampton, Mr. Darwell Conklin, 

Mr. A. Miner, Mr. A. Griswold, 

Mr. Frank Scranton. 

The minister was represented by Mr. F. C. Dowd ; the planters, by 
Mr. W. B. Coe, Mr. Frederick Coe, 

Mr. Horace Hunter. 

A second chief feature of the Madison procession was the amusing rep- 
resentation of an old-time Singing School, under the able leadership of a 
former teacher of the village singing schools, Mr. Samuel Hill. This 
picturesque company of youths and maidens, clad in the fashions of a by- 
gone age, occupied a large platform prettily canopied with scarlet and 
white cloth, and beautifully trimmed with golden-rod. 

As the procession wound along the Singing School greeted the by- 
standers, from lime to time, with the familiar tunes of " Auld Lang Syne." 

The ladies and gentlemen participating in this entertainment were : 

Mrs. W. B. Coe, Mrs. E. T. Scranton, 

Mrs. G. N. Coe, Mrs. F. T. Dowd, 

Miss Lizzie Scranton, Miss Etta Bishop, 

Miss Etta Flowers, Miss Carrie Crampton, 

Miss Kittle Pickett, Mr. E. B. Redfteld, 

Mr. Almon Minor, Mr. B. Crampton, 
Mr. A. H. Samson. 

Thanks are also due Mr. Wallace Lewis for his own services and the 
use of his horses in the interest of the Singing School. 

(The two previous floats were contributed by the Boston street district, 
and were due to the efforts, chiefly, of Mr. W. B. Coe, Mr. S. A. Scranton. 
and Mr. N. T. Bushnell). 

Not least in the attractions of the procession was the gaily-trimmed 
wagon driven by Mr. F. T. Dowd, and carrying a load of young ladies, 
pupils of the Hand Academy of Madison. They constituted Madison's 



146 



contribution of waitresses for the celebration dinner, each wearing, as a 
badge of service, a dainty apron. These young girls were armed with 
boquets of brilliant autumnal Howers, with which the)- waved laughing 
salutes to the spectators along the line of the parade. 

At East River a prominent addition was made to the line in the shape of 
a find}' decorated float exhibiting a display of the school furniture manufac- 
tured by George Munger & Son, of East River. The front of the high 
canop)' bore in conspicuous letters the former Indian name of East River, 
" Ruttawoo," while on a blackboard in the rear appeared the words, " East 
Guilford, 1639." This attractive modern school was occupied by a merr}' 
company of children, waving flags, and was driven by its proprietor, Mr. 
George B. Munger. The children assisting this enterprise were : 

Alice Munger, Mabel Moody, 

Myra Chittenden, Bertha Wilcox, 

Grace Hull, Horace Chittenden, 
Burton Hull. 

The Madison procession was otherwise enlivened by several ga}' compa- 
nies of men, women and children, riding in fancifullj- trimmed hay wagons, 
and by a number of flag-bedecked carts laden with provisions and repre- 
sentative of the village industries. 

In this long line were to be seen most of the prominent citizens of Madi- 
son and East River, many of whose carriages were appropriate!}' decorated 
in honor of the occasion. 

The Madison procession assembled in the Center District of that town 
promptly at 8:30 .\. m., on Tuesda}', arriving in the outskirts of Guilford at 
about 9:30. 

The Guilford procession assembled around the village gteen at about 9 
o'clock A. M. At 9:30 the line set forth to meet and escort into the town 
the Madison division, which lay awaiting them on the main road in the out- 
skirts of the village. The line of march was an extensive one, comprising 
all the principal streets and passing around the green. 

Seveial fine arches had been erected, bearing appropriate inscriptions, 
the houses of the citizens being also most tastefully decorated. Many of 
them were marked in conspicuous figures with the earl)' date of their erec- 
tion. The original quaint names of certain localities were in several in- 
stances revived. The procession at one point, passed underneath a sus- 
pended /«"///<"('(?/, of antique pattern and workmanship ; it being placed there 
as a reminder that the spot in question was formerly known by the humble 
name of " Petticoat Lane.' 

The street parade lasted more than two hours, the procession being every- 
where greeted by appreciative applause. 



HISTORICAL ADDRHSS. 



GUILFORD FROM 1639 1^0 1665. 



SAMIKL HART, D. D.. PROFESSOR IN TRINITY COLLEGE. 
HARTFORD. 



[Prof. Hart is a descendant of Rev. John Hart. 1707. and Francis 
Bushncll, 1639.] 



Mr. President, Citizens of this Ancient Town, 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I suppose that it was near the end of June in the year 
1637, that Englishmen first visited the site of Guilford. The 
little army of the Connecticut colony had marched against 
the Pequot fort at Mystic, and had utterly routed their 
enemies. A few of the Indians fled to the westward ; and 
some of the Connecticut soldiers, led by the friendly Uncas, 
pursued them along the coast. On a point of land south of 
us a Pequot sachem was detected in his hiding-place and 
killed by Uncas ; and the sachem's head, fastened in an oak 
tree at the head of the harbor, gave to the spot a name which 
remains to this day. 

As the pursuers traversed the coast between the Connecti- 
cut River and the Ouinnipiack and still further west to the 
site of the great swamp-fight, they were struck with the 
beauty and the fertility of the country. A few years before, 
the settlers in the Massachusetts had learned of the attrac- 
tiveness of the land about the place where the Tunxis River 



149 

falls into the Connecticut, and this had led to the three set- 
tlements in that fair valley, forming a colony which took its 
name from the great river. So now, when the pursuers of 
the Pequots returned and told of the rich plains along the 
seashore, it is not surprising that word of their discoveries 
should reach others who were looking for a home to the west 
of the established settlements on Massachusetts Bay. Mr. 
John Davenport and his companions had just arrived in Bos- 
ton, and being, as the quaint old historian says, "more fit for 
Zebulon's ports than for Issachar's tents," they came in April 
7, 1638, to the mouth of the Quinnipiack, and there laid the 
foundations of an independent plantation or colony. 

Meanwhile the same causes which led to the earlier emi- 
grations to New England were still operative in the mother 
country. A few of those who had crossed the ocean, like the 
Pilgrim settlers of Plymouth, were professedly and on princi- 
ple separatists from the Church of England ; but the larger 
and more influential part were Puritans, still professing and 
claiming membership in the established church, but believing 
and teaching that the work of the necessary reformation of 
that church had by no means been completed, and in particu- 
lar objecting to certain rites and ceremonies and to the im- 
position of rites and ceremonies by any general authority. 
It was quite evident, from the way in which events were 
shaping themselves in England, that neither the civil nor the 
ecclesiastical rulers were in sympathy with this party; and 
there had grown up among the Puritans a strong desire to 
find a home where they should be unmolested in carrying out 
their plans of reform and making application of them in the 
affairs both of Church and of State. 

Nor need we be surprised at learning that in almost every 
case the band of emigrants was led by one or two influential 
men, generally by some well educated, devout, and enthusiastic 
clergyman, whose wishes for a continuation of what he 
thought the work of reformation were sternly resisted by 
those in authority. So Thomas Hooker had been the founder 
of Hartford and John Davenport the founder of New Haven, 
and so Henry Whitfield was the founder of Guilford. A uni- 



ISO 

versity graduate and a scholar of the inns of court, he had 
entered holy orders and taken the well endowed living of 
Ockley in Surrey. He had also preached in many other 
places of the neighborhood, and had gained for himself much 
influence and a good reputation. When therefore he 
embraced the views of the Puritan or non-conforming party 
in the English Church, he readily gathered about him a con- 
siderable number of men who looked to him for guidance 
amid the troubles of the times. We are told that the mem- 
bers of his company came from Kent and Surrey and Sussex, 
and it certainly appears that they were from somewhat widely 
scattered homes and of different stations in society. Their 
final plans for emigration must have been made after corre- 
spondence with Mr. Davenport at Ouinnipiack and consulta- 
tion with George Fenwick, Esq., who had returned to 
England in 1636, after a few months' sojourn at Saybrook. 
When the first shipload sailed, in the spring of 1639, they took 
with them Mr. Davenport's only child, who had been left in 
England on account of his tender years, and they also had 
for fellow-passengers Mr. Fenwick and his bride, Lady Alice 
Boteler, the " Lady Fenwick " of our early history, both of 
them enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Whitfield's 

In this vessel, of three hundred and fifty tons, which sailed 
directly from England to Ouinnipiack, were twenty-five men 
destined for the new settlement on the southern shore of New 
England, with their families and their household goods. We 
are told that the cattle which they had with them belonged to 
Lady Fenwick, and that she gave them to Mr. Whitfield, by 
whom they were taken to Guilford for the use of his colony. 
If tradition can be trusted, they were the ancestors of that 
sturdy breed of red cattle which have been and still are so 
serviceable to the farmers of this town and parts adjacent. 

On the first day of June, 1639, the twenty-five settlers, 
being still on shipboard, made a covenant with one another in 
these words : 

" We, whose names are hereunder written, intending by 
God's gracious permission to plant ourselves in New England, 
and, if it may be, in the southerly part, about Ouinnipiack: 



151 

we do faithfully promise each to each, for ourselves and fami- 
lies and those that belong to us, that we will, the Lord assist- 
ing us, sit down and join ourselves together in one entire 
plantation, and to be helpful each to the other in every com- 
mon work, according to every man's ability and as need shall 
require ; and we promise not to desert or leave each other or 
the plantation but with the consent of the rest or the greater 
part of the company who have entered into this agreement. 
As for our gathering together in a church way and the choice 
of officers and members to be joined together in that way, we 
do refer ourselves until such time as it shall please God to 
settle us in our plantation." 

At the end of a voyage of seven weeks, this company of 
emigrants came safely into the harbor at Quinnipiack ; and 
" the sight of the harbor did so please the captain and all the 
passengers that he called it the Fair Haven." The exact date 
of the arrival of the good ship must remain uncertain. It 
would seem to have been the prevailing opinion that the com- 
pact was signed near the end of the voyage, and that the new 
comers were present at the famous meeting on the 4th of 
June — but three days later — when the foundations of the New 
Haven church and commonwealth were laid. But it seems 
hardly possible that the framing of this compact by men who 
were all in agreement and practically committed to it, should 
have been left till the end of an unuslially protracted voyage, 
when their ship was finding its way along a strange coast. 
Nor, again, does Mr. Davenport's letter to Lady Vere, in 
which, under date of September 28, 1639, he writes her of the 
safe arrival of his child " with sundry desirable friends," give 
the impression that nearly four months had elapsed since they 
came to land. But we have direct evidence in the matter 
from the recorded statement that one of the colonists, John 
Hoadley, joined Mr. Whitfield on or soon after the 26th day 
of April, and from Winthrop's entry in his journal that the 
ships arrived at Quinnipiack in July. There can therefore be 
little doubt that the good ships which brought the first settlers 
for this colony— though the precise place in which they were 
to settle was not yet determined — left England in May and 



152 

reached the Fair Haven in July of the year 1639. I^ is possi- 
ble that some of their companions, with perhaps the settlers 
of Southold, did not arrive in Quinnipiack till the first of 
October. But though none of them were in time to attend 
the meeting of the New Haven planters in which were adopted 
the fundamental principles that " the Scriptures do hold forth 
a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in 
all duties," and that " foee burgesses shall be chosen out of 
church members," they must all have learned of what had 
thus far been done, and nearly all must have watched with 
much interest the, foundation of the church on its seven pil- 
lars on the 22d day of August. Before the establishment of 
the civil court by the same seven chosen men and the other 
church members on the 25th day of October, the new comers 
had found a home for themselves in the rich land on the coast 
at Menunkatuck, about midway between Mr. Davenport's 
settlement at Quinnipiack and Mr. Fenwick's fort at the mouth 
of the Connecticut. 

Mr. Whitfield's company, amounting to about forty planters 
with their families, had never been considered, nor had they 
considered themselves, as members of the community among 
which they had been sojourning for a time. They but waited 
to decide where they would take up their abode, and to make 
the necessary arrangements for their removal. They found a 
spot attractive to themselves as well by its natural beauty as 
by its promising to be a good farming country, in a secluded 
part of New England, removed from the controversies of the 
church in Massachusetts and the democracy of the state in 
Connecticut, not likely to be troubled by adverse claims 
under any royal patent, and where they could enjoy the con- 
sciousness of having done a good deed in occupying the land 
before the Dutch could take possession of it. Their first 
corporate action, so far as we know (unless indeed we can as- 
sume that all entered into a compact equivalent to that which 
was signed by those who came on the first ship), was with 
reference to the purchase of the Menunkatuck lands from the 
Indians. They met in the public hall of the Ouinnipack 
planters, Mr. Newman's barn — it must have been in August, 



153 

1639 — ^'""^^ agreed that the lands shpuld be purchased and the 
deeds from the Indians taken in the name of Henry Whit- 
field, Robert Kitchell, William Leete, William Chittenden, 
John Bishop, and John Caffinge. For what seem to us small 
considerations in clothes, utensils, and wampum, they secured 
from the Indian possessors or claimants of the lands various 
agreements or deeds which were rather of the nature of quit- 
claims, though in a certain way they purported to warrant 
the titles. Thus the land between Ajicomick or Stony Creek 
and Ruttawoo (otherwise called Moosamattuck) or East 
River, including the great plain and the site of the village, 
was purchased from "the sachem squaw," Shaumpishuh, on 
the 29th of September, 1639. More than two years later, on 
the 17th of December, 164 1, Uncas the Mohegan sold to 
the English planters the land between the East River and 
Tuxis or Tuxishoag (a pond near the place where the East 
Guilford meeting-house was afterwards built), together with 
the island "called by the English Falcon Island." Another 
deed of the same part of the main land had already been 
secured from Weekwosh, the pious Niantic; but it seems to 
have been thought safe to satisfy all claimants. The limits 
of the plantation were extended still further eastward to 
Hammonassett River by a gift from Mr. Fenwick, under date 
of October 22, 1645, in consideration of his esteem for Mr. 
Whitfield and in order to encourage the settlers to remain in 
the place which they had chosen. Mr. Fenwick had bought 
of the Indians, we are told, the land from Tuxis to Niantic. 
The first agreement with Shaumpishuh was evidently made 
at Menunkatuck, and it seems clear that the settlement had 
already begun, two hundred and fifty years ago this very 
month. It was witnessed by John Higginson, the young 
chaplain from Saybrook Fort, who acted as Indian interpre- 
ter — perhaps this was the first time that he met his future 
wife, Mr. Whitfield's daughter — and by Robert Newman of 
Ouinnipiack. The land on the plain was laid out somewhat 
after the manner of New Haven (for we may now use the 
name which was soon given to the plantation west of us), with 
a large public lot at the centre reserved for the general use of 



154 

the community, while about it and in the outlying fields were 
house-lots and farm-lots for individual planters. At New 
Haven, however, which was intended for a city, the central 
square was surrounded by eight other squares of equal size ; 
while here, where it was the intention of the settlers to live 
as an agricultural community, the lay-out of the ground was 
less regular. Some houses must have been built before the 
winter for the accommodation of the fifty families, more or 
less, who had removed here, but it is not likely that Mr. Whit- 
field's stone mansion — one almost wonders whether it should 
not be called a fort — was erected before the spring. At any 
rate, when this and other stone houses had been built and the 
stone meeting-house stood in its place on the public square, 
surrounded by a considerable number of wooden dwellings, 
each on its own lot enclosed by palisadoes, there must have 
been the appearance of a large and thriving settlement. 

It seems certain that the three towns on the great river, 
which we now know as Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, 
had from the first formed practically one colony ; at any rate, 
they had since the 14th of January, 1639, ^een united into 
one government under a written constitution. But there was 
not at first in any sense a jurisdiction of New Haven, nor had 
the colonies in the neighborhood of the older settlement any 
legal or quasi-legal connection with it. The Milford church 
was organized at New Haven before the removal to the west ; 
but on the removal Milford became an independent colony, 
and within three years it was administering its government 
on principles inconsistent with those which were maintained 
at New Haven. The settlers here at Menunkatuck had come 
from England for the express purpose of establishing a colony 
by themselves ; they had but landed at New Haven and 
sojourned there for a few weeks ; doubtless their principal 
men had consulted with Mr. Davenport and other persons of 
influence there as to the best way in which they might organ- 
ize themselves, and we shall see that to a considerable extent 
they followed New Haven precedents ; but they had also, we 
may feel sure, seen some weak points in the form of govern- 
ment adopted by them, and we need not be surprised to find 



155 

that they attempted to guard against certain faults which they 
had observed in the New Haven constitution. 

Allusion has already been made to the principles of the 
theocratic (or rather ecclesiocratic) government established 
at New Haven. They were, in brief, these : that the Scrip- 
tures are a sufficient guide for the conduct of all men under 
all circumstances, and that the privileges of freemanship or of 
suffrage in any community belong only to those who are 
members of the Church of Christ. This condition of citizen- 
ship, rejected by the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth, was in- 
sisted upon by all strict Puritans. And in fact, apart from 
the maintenance of fundamental doctrines, in which they 
claimed that they did not dissent from the standard of the 
Church of England, it was almost the only thing which they 
held in common with the establishment at home. But there 
was this most important difference : that the English law de- 
termined church membership, for all political purposes, by the 
simple test of conformity to church ordinances ; while the 
Puritans, asserting that this was one of the matters in which 
there was need of further reformation in England, declared 
that even in the eye of the law none should be accounted 
church members except such as were visible saints and had 
satisfied the church that they were such. Thus this principle 
had been stoutly maintained by the Puritans in Massachusetts 
Bay, who had practically admitted the elders of the church to 
a co-ordinate, or even a dominating, share in the government; 
and it was no less stoutly maintained by Mr. Davenport, who 
had secured its acceptance in his colony by a vote of the 
whole body of planters, those who were not church members 
surrendering such political rights as they might possibly have 
claimed. In the Connecticut colony, however, under the 
guidance of Mr. Hooker, this principle of Puritanism had 
been exchanged for the contrary principle of the Pilgrim sepa- 
ratists ; and there was in the river colony no religious or ec- 
clesiastical test required for admission to citizenship or for 
the exercise of the franchise. Though we have no direct evi- 
dence in the matter, it certainly appears that Mr. Whitfield 
was not disposed entirely to agree with Mr. Davenport and 



156 

4 

the colonists of the Massachusetts in deciding this funda- 
mental question of citizenship, even if he was unwilling to 
express any open dissent from neighbors and friends. It 
seems certain, also, that there was less social inequality in the 
agricultural community here than in the commercial settle- 
ment at New Haven; and we can well believe that those who 
had entered into the compact on shipboard as political equals, 
would object to resigning all political power to those among 
themselves who should be approved as visible saints. These 
considerations, as it seems to me, go far to explain the long 
delay here in establishing a church and organizing a state. 
The Menunkatuck colony was, and considered itself, abso- 
lutely independent; and its members seem to have felt great 
unwillingness to conform to the principles of the New Haven 
government, while yet there appears to have been a desire 
not to dissent from them in an unnecessarily open way. Cer- 
tain it is that those who settled here did not for a time make 
any formal decision in regard to their permanent organiza- 
tion. 

We have seen that the deeds from the Indians were taken, 
on behalf of all the planters, in the name of six of the more 
prominent of their number. The agreement to this effect 
was made at Quinnipiack; and the six purchasers signed a 
covenant to the efiect that the purchase in their name was' 
not to be prejudicial to the rights of any of the other planters. 
" Moreover," they proceed, " we profess that our meaning 
(according to their desires) [is] to resigne up all our right in 
trust in the said purchase of lands into the hands of the 
church here, so soone as it shall please God to gather one 
amongst us, whether we be members of said church or not." 
This covenant was made apparently in August, 1639, ^.nd in 
it the influence of New Haven and of the action taken there 
is sufficiently evident; though the insertion of the parenthe- 
tical clause, " according to their desires," gives a decidedly 
democratic flavor to the theocratic decree. But, once settled 
on their own lands, our ancestors showed no haste about tak- 
ing further action. They left the title to their property in 
the hands of their six representatives, and they evidently re- 



157 

garded these men as having all necessary authority as magis- 
trates. We have the record of a public meeting on the second 
day of February, 1642 — that is to say, some two years and a 
half after the settlement had been made — which shows that 
no change had yet taken place, while it intimates that some 
here, and perhaps some in New Haven, were getting uneasy 
that things had been left in this condition so long. At that 
meeting it was " agreed by consent " that the trust should 
" remaine in the hands of the six purchasers until a church 
be gathered here," and also — the form of the words is very 
instructive — "that the civill power for administration of jus- 
tice and preservation of peace " should "remaine in the hands 
of Robert Kitchell, William Chittenden, John Bishop, and 
William Leete, formerly chosen for that work, untill some 
may be chosen out of the church that shall be here gathered." 
It is quite evident, therefore, that either by virtue of their 
original designation as representatives of the planters, or by 
some subsequent act, four out of the six selected men (Mr. 
Whitfield being perhaps excused on account of his other 
duties, and Mr. Caffinge having removed to New Haven) 
acted as magistrates for a considerable time. The organiza- 
tion of a church, with the arrangement of civil matters which 
waited on this, was still deferred. Mr. Whitfield doubtless 
preached on the Lord's Day, and may have allowed himself, 
in virtue of his ordination in England and his acknowledged 
position, the exercise of some of the other functions of the 
ministry; but unless he held doctrines quite different from 
those of other representative men among the Puritans, the 
ordinances of the Church were not administered, nor indeed 
could they be administered before a local or congregational ' 
body of professing Christians should be gathered. 

In this condition of things nearly four years passed. At 
last, in 1643, a church was founded, after Mr. Davenport's 
fashion, on seven men corresponding to the New Haven pil- 
lars, and on the 19th day of June (perhaps the very day of the 
foundation of the church) the original purchasers " resigned 
up their right into the hands of the church, and those four 
of them also which were chosen to the exercise of civill power 



did express that their trust and power for that work were now 
terminated and ended." To understand why this action took 
place at this time it seems necessary to look for a moment 
away from the local interests of this colony. The colonies of 
Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven, 
though not in agreement in all points ecclesiastical and civil, 
were yet sufficiently in accord to be willing to unite against 
common enemies; and such common enemies they had in- the 
French to the east, the Dutch at the Manhadoes, the Swedes 
to the south, and the Indians on all sides, not to mention the 
English across the sea. Commissioners from these four col- 
onies met and signed articles of confederation at Boston on 
the 19th day of May, 1643. New Haven, now including in 
its jurisdiction Stamford and Southold, was of sufficient 
importance to enter the confederacy; but what was a compar- 
atively small and isolated plantation like that at Menunka- 
tuck to do ? Evidently the only thing possible — for to stand 
alone was neither safe nor desirable — was to effect a union 
with New Haven. Mr. Whitfield might possibly have thought 
of looking to the east and uniting with Saybrook, where his 
friend Mr. Fenwick was still acting as governor ; but Con- 
necticut and Saybrook had had a common representation at 
the forming of the confederacy, and the absorption of Say- 
brook into Connecticut was but a question of time ; in fact, 
it was brought about before the end of the next year. It is 
not likely that the colony here felt itself at all drawn towards 
union with Connecticut. It seemed absolutely necessary, 
therefore, that it should unite itself with New Haven. To 
this New Haven would readily consent, but only on condition 
that the terms of citizenship in the united colony and in each 
of its members should be the same as those which had been 
irrevocably established by herself; and so this act of confede- 
ration of the New England colonies seems the immediate 
occasion of the organization of a church and the establish- 
ment of a constitution here. Thus it was that on (or a little 
before) the 19th of June, 1643, seven men were chosen, appar- 
ently by the whole body of planters, to be the nucleus of a 
church. They were Mr. Henry Whitfield, Mr. John Higginson, 



159 

Mr. Samuel Desborough, Mr. William Leete, Mr. Jacob Sheate, 
John Mepham, and John Hoadley. Then the former trustees 
resigned the title of the land and the exercise of the civil 
authority. " Whereof," so runs the record, " notice being 
taken at the publicke meeting, it was further propounded, 
agreed, and concluded that whereas for the time past (while as 
yet there was no church gathered amongst us) we did choose 
out four men, into whose hands we did put full power and 
authority to act, order, and dispatch all matters respecting the 
publicke weal and civiil government of this plantation untill 
a church was gathered among us, which the Lord in mercy 
having now done according to the desires of our hearts, and 
the said four men at the publicke meeting having resigned up 
their trust and power, to the intent that all power and author- 
ity might be rightly setled with the church, as most safe and 
suitable for securing of those mayne ends which wee pro- 
pounded to ourselves in our coming hither and sitting downe 
together, namely that we might settle and uphold all the 
ordinances of God in an explicite congregational church way 
with most purity, peace, and liberty for the benefit both of 
ourselves and our posterities after us, we doe therefore now all 
and every of us agree, order, and conclude that only such 
planters as are also members of the church here shall bee and 
bee called ffreemen and that such ftreemen only shall have 
power to elect magistrates, deputies, and all other officers of 
publicke trust or authority in matters of importance concern- 
ing either the civiil affaires or government here, from among 
themselves and not elsewhere, and to take an account of all 
such officers for the honest and faithful discharge of their 
several places respectively, and to deal with and proceed 
against them for all misdemeanors and delinquencies in the 
several places according to rule ; unto which magistrates, 
deputies, or officers wee doe ffi'eely subject ourselves in all 
lawful commands, provided that they be yearly chosen from 
time to time, and provided also that no laws or orders be by 
them made before all the planters then and there inhabiting 
and residing have due warning and notice of the meeting or 
of what is to be done, that so all weighty objections may be 



i6o 

duly attended, considered, and according to righteousnesse 
sattisfyingly removed." 

I have quoted this document thus far at length, Because it 
seems to me that we cannot otherwise understand the consti- 
tution of the government here between the time of the union 
with New Haven and that of the union with Connecticut. 
The church had been organized on the New Haven model, 
except that, as we are expressly told on good authority, Mr. 
Whitfield received no installation or ordination over it and 
that it had no ruling elder ; and, still in accordance with the 
New Haven model, all civil power and authority had been 
surrendered into the hands of the church, and it was thereupon 
provided that none but church members, who were about 
two-fifths of the whole number of planters, should exercise 
any of the rights of freemen. So far the exigencies of their 
present circumstances had prevailed upon all to agree with 
those who wished the civil government to be under the con- 
trol of the ecclesiastical. This was certain to secure for the 
plantation admission on equal terms to the New Haven juris- 
diction. But the further provision that all the planters, 
whether freemen or not, should have notice of all meetings 
with opportunity to bring forward weighty objections, shows 
that due consideration was had for those who preferred the 
Connecticut rather than the New Haven form of government, 
and, in short, wished a democracy rather than an ecclesio- 
cracy ; it was a satisfactory assurance that none of the plant- 
ers should be really deprived of any rights ; and to this com- 
promise general assent seems to have been given. 

In fact, the security for the interests of those planters who 
were not freemen was even greater than appears from the 
part of the record which has just been read. They were not 
only notified of and allowed to attend the general courts (or 
town meetings, as we should call them); they were required to 
attend, and fined for absence or tardiness, unless they should 
.have a satisfactory excuse, or "for going away before the 
meeting be broken up." This provision meant more than the 
requirement in New Haven that all the planters should be 
present at the meetings of the general courts ; for from the 



i6i 

regulations which follow as to orderly speaking, it seems quite 
evident that any planter could be heard, provided he did not 
" continue speech longer by impertinencies, needless repeti- 
ti,ons, or multiplication of words which rather tends to darken 
than clear the truth or right of the matter." It is not at all 
likely that under such a constitution as this any action of im- 
portance was taken or, for that matter, any officer of impor- 
tance was elected without the consent of the more influential 
part of the planters as well as that of the major part of the 
freemen. 

A further provision of the constitution adopted here seems 
to me to show that our ancestors were guarding against what 
they thought to be another error in the arrangement of mat- 
ters at New Haven. In the older colony there had been 
several men of. wealth, and great inequality in the amounts 
which the settlers were considered to have put into the com- 
mon funds, and consequently like inequality in the allotments 
of the public lands, the investments varying from ten to three 
thousand pounds. Here, precautions were taken against the 
growing-up of an aristocracy of wealth. It was "agreed and 
ordered that no planter shall put in his estate above five hun- 
dred pounds to require accommodation proportionable in any 
divisions of lands in this plantation, except it be with the ex- 
press consent of the major part of the ffreemen met together 
and for some good cause and grounds granting liberty to some 
such as desire a further inlargement." And, on the other 
hand, it was provided that the poorest planter should be 
reckoned, so far as the distribution of land was concerned, as 
having fifty pounds estate. These principles and rules were 
very possibly adopted at an earlier date than that under which 
they appear on the records ; but, in any case, they are in op- 
position, and it must have been intentional opposition, to 
those which were in force at New Haven. And the provision 
that none should be freemen or burgesses except such as were 
members of the Guilford church — " the church here," as the 
vote reads — was a safeguard against external pressure from 
New Haven or elsewhere. 

Matters having been thus arranged, we read as the open- 



1 62 

ins: minute of a record of " a General Court held at New 
Haven for the Plantations within this Jurisdiction, the 6th 
of July, 1643 " : " Mr. Leete and Mr. Disbourough of Manun- 
katuck were admitted members and received the charge of 
freemen for this court." A little lower down in the same 
record we find " Manunkatuck named Guildforde"; and again, 
that representation might not be unaccompanied by taxation, 
it is recorded that Guilford was ordered to pay five pounds 
" towards the charges about the combination." On the 23d 
of the following October, Milford was admitted to the juris- 
diction, a difficulty as to her six free burgesses who were not 
church members having been disposed of; on the 26th day 
of the same month a court of elections was held, no magis- 
trate being chosen for Guilford, but Mr. Leete and Mr. Des- 
borough being chosen deputies ; and on the following day a 
constitution was adopted. In accordance with its provisions, 
all the free burgesses in the jurisdiction voted annually for a 
governor, deputy governor, and other magistrates (these 
latter being selected with reference to the needs of each plan- 
tation or town), who together formed a court of magistrates, 
and the burgesses of each plantation elected two deputies, 
who sat with the magistrates in the general court for the 
jurisdiction to make laws, impose taxes, and hear and decide 
appeals according to the Scriptures, the concurrence of both 
magistrates and deputies being required for an act of the 
court. For local courts of justice in inferior causes, the mag- 
istrate or magistrates chosen for the plantation sat with fit 
and able men chosen by the free burgesses of the plantation 
from among themselves. At first, as we have seen, Guilford 
had no magistrate; and the town was allowed for a time a 
court of four deputies. In 1646, Mr. Desborough appears as 
magistrate, and he probably served in that capacity until his 
return to England in 165 1. Mr. Leete was chosen in 1653, 
and he held the office (including, of course, the years in which 
he was deputy-governor and governor) until the time of the 
union with Connecticut. 

Two matters call for a moment's notice before wc pass on. 
Of the qnattuorviri, or body of four men, who administered the 



1 63 

civil affairs of this settlement until the time of the organiza- 
tion of a church, and who then surrendered their powers to 
the seven church-pillars and to those whom they should in- 
corporate with themselves, and who must therefore have been 
men of prominence among the settlers, one only, Mr. Leete, 
was of sufficient ecclesiastical eminence to be selected as a 
pillar; two others were, or soon became, freemen; but the 
fourth does not appear to have attained that honor. As to 
the pillars themselves — I use the word, though it does not 
appear on the records — it is interesting to observe that they 
were all young men. Mr. Whitfield himself was but forty- 
six years old; and he was far the oldest of the seven. Mr. 
Leete was a man of thirty years; Mr. Higginson and Mr. 
Sheafe were twenty-seven years old; John Hoadley was a year 
younger; Mr. Desborough was two years his junior; and of 
John Mepham we are told that he was one of the youngest 
of the settlers. In fact, it appears that most of those who 
came from England to Manunkatuck were young men; and 
their life and actions cannot be rightly understood if we fail 
to remember that they brought here a youthful vigor and 
enthusiasm. 

The name of Guilford, given to this town at the time of its 
incorporation into New Haven colony, and, as we are told, 
at the desire of its inhabitants, may have been already in 
common use. We are told that the site was selected by the 
first settlers because the land here seemed low, moist, and 
rich, and promised to be liberal to the husbandman, and thus 
reminded them of the home which they had left in England ; 
and, we are further told, that as many of them had lived at 
Guildford, the county town of Surrey, they adopted this name 
for their new home. In point of fact, however, we do not 
know that any of the settlers came from Guildford, or more 
than three of them from Surrey ; these three were Mr. Whit- 
field and two of his former parisioners at Ockley, William 
Dudley and Thomas Norton. It would not be unreasonable, 
however, to assume that the name of the English Guildford 
was given to this place at the suggestion of some one or more 
whom it reminded of the country at or near the shiretown 



164 

which, perhaps, they had only visited. It is by no means easy 
to assii^n the reason for the adoption of English names of 
places in New England. Hartford in Connecticut doubtless 
took its name from Hertford in England, but we have no rea- 
son to believe that any of its settlers came from that ancient 
city, and we are told of but, one who had ever lived there. 
For myself, I am inclined to agree with those who think that 
the name of this town was taken but indirectly from the Eng- 
lish shiretown, and that it was given in honor of Robert Dud- 
ley, Earl of Leicester, whose second title was Lord Guildford. 
Be this asit may, it is quite certain that but few of Mr. Whit- 
field's parishioners at Ockley came hither with him ; and, it 
may be added that we must seek for some other explanation 
of the fact that he received no ordination or installation here 
than the assumption that, as his whole parish had removed 
with him, he continued to occupy towards his people the same 
relation which he had held in England. 

For twelve years Guilford remained a constituent part of 
one of the confederated colonies of New England. It had 
lost its independence ; but it retamed its individuality. Its 
church, like that of New Haven, was built on the seven pillars 
of wisdom's house, and it had a pastor and a teacher; but 
neither of these officers was ordained here, and it never had, 
nor was it ever willing to have, a ruling elder. Its civil gov- 
ernment also was modelled on that of the older colony to the 
west ; but while none others than members of the church 
here could be burgesses, the planters who were not freemen 
could easily make their influence felt. And Guilford took a 
prominent part in the public affairs of the colony into which 
she had entered. Mr. Leete was deput3'--governor for three 
years (from 1658 to 1660), and then governor until the colony 
ceased to have a separate existence, and after 1655 he was 
continuously one of the commissioners of the New England 
confederacy. But it is impossible to enter at all fully into the 
history of those years, crowded as they were, both here and 
in England, with events of great importance. It must suffice 
to allude to the attempt of New Haven colony, just beginning 
to feel her strength, to join with Connecticut in sending to 



i65 

procure from the Parliament (which was then in power) a 
patent for these parts, and the loss of the New Haven com- 
missioner on the famous phantom ship ; to the commission 
of Mr. William Leete and Mr. William Jordan, both Guilford 
men, to plead the case of the New Haven colony before 
Massachusetts in regard to the dangers from the Dutch, and 
again to treat with Cromwell's commissioners concerning the 
same matter; to Cromwell's offer in 1656 to the people of the 
colony, or part of them, to remove to Jamaica under his pro- 
tection, to which they replied that " for divers reasons they 
could not conclude that God called them to a present remove 
thither ;" to Guilford's offer of Mr. Whitfield's house for a 
grammar school for the use of the inhabitants of the jurisdic- 
tion in order that "learning might be promoved as a means 
for the fitting of instruments for publique service in church 
and commonwealth," a plan which failed to be carried into 
effect ; and to the great commotion into which the colony 
was thrown by the visit of two men who were then called the 
Colonels, and of whom it has been customary to speak in this 
neighborhood as the Judges, though the English tories call 
them Regicides, and to the very doubtful tradition that they 
were at one time actually present in Guilford. Passing by 
these events and others which might seem to call for men- 
tion, I must crave your patience while I speak of Guilford's 
part in the events which led to the absorption of New Haven 
colony by Connecticut. 

The stream of emigration from Old England to New Eng- 
land had been checked by the success of the parliamentary 
party; the settlers of Guilford were almost the last of the 
Puritan emigrants; and during the days of the Common- 
wealth many who had come hither had returned to the mother 
country, partly that they might enjoy the changed order of 
things there, and partly that they might defend it, now that 
there seemed nrj fear of prelacy, from the dangers with which 
it was threatened by the Scotch Presbyterians. In these 
years, therefore, our colonies here gained little or no strength. 
In 1660 the king came to his own again, and the monarchy 
was restored in England with the general assent of the peo- 



i66 

pie. Before the year had expired the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay sent an address to Charles the Second; and on the 14th 
of March, i66r, he was formally acknowledged in Connecti- 
cut, the General Court referring to informal action to this 
effect which had had already been taken, and declaring that 
all the inhabitants of the colony were his Highness's "loyal 
and faithful subjects." New Haven delayed proclaiming the 
king until the 21st of August, and did it then with no very 
good grace. Connecticut had at once taken steps for secur- 
ing a charter from his majesty, in order to perpetuate the 
civil privileges which she had enjoyed from the first; and her 
plans were pushed on with characteristic policy, the people 
being of one mind as to the object which they desired and 
the best way of attaining it. Governor Winthrop sailed for 
England, where the influence of Puritan loyalists, such as the 
Earl of Manchester, now lord chamberlain, and Lord Say and 
Sele (one of the original patentees), now lord privy seal, the 
exhibition of a copy of the " old patent " given by the Earl 
of Warwick, together with his own abilities and accomplish- 
ments and (very probably) otber considerations both politi- 
cal and personal prevailed to obtain that most remarkable 
document which practically constituted Connecticut, with the 
full consent of England, a free and independent state, and 
which sufficed for her government for more than a hundred 
and fifty years. The charter was dated April 23d, 1662, and 
its terms were evidently suggested, if not dictated, by Win- 
throp. That with which we are now specially concerned is 
the question of the boundaries of Connecticut; it was to lie 
between the Massachusetts line and the sea, and to extend 
from Narragansett Bay to the Pacific Ocean; and within 
these limits was included " the charterless and defenseless 
colony of New Haven." 

Now, it is quite possible that the charter might have been 
thus liberally worded even if it had been known that New 
Haven colony was unanimously opposed to inclusion in Con- 
necticut. However willing Winthrop may have been to 
consider the wishes of the sister colony and whatever prom- 
ises of a general nature he may have made, he must have seen 



167 

that it would be quite impossible to exempt a portion (or 
rather portions) of the land which fell naturally within Con- 
necticut's charter, without serious risk of losing the whole; 
and he must have felt that it was absolutely necessary that 
Connecticut should be a strong colony, able to maintain her- 
self against Massachusetts and New Netherland. But he had 
also strong encouragement from these quarters to act as he 
did. There were the malcontents, to whom allusion has been 
made more than once, who claimed that the New Haven 
restrictions upon the franchise were depriving them of some 
cf the rights of English subjects and who recognized no 
lawful authority in the colonial government ; and it is quite 
certain that, doubtless for more statesmanlike reasons. Gov- 
ernor Leete and others saw the desirability of securing one 
patent for the two colonies. It is hardly possible at this time 
to do more than allude to the facts of the case and to call 
attention to the prominent part which Guilford men took in 
furthering the submission of the New Haven colonists to the 
terms of the royal charter. Before the charter came. Dr. 
Bryan (or Bray) Rossiter and his son John, perhaps en- 
couraged by the success of their opposition to a candidate for 
the pastorate here, had ventured to call the civil authority of 
the jurisdiction into question. They were prevailed upon to 
present an apology and to promise to submit to the govern- 
ment as long as they continued under it ; but they did their 
best to free themselves from its authority without changing 
their residence. No wonder is it that the colony found " a 
great discouragement upon the spirits of those that were now 
in place of magistracy," and that Mr. Davenport and others, 
who were willing to risk everything rather than abandon the 
fundamental principle of restricting suftrage to church mem- 
bers, were alarmed at the claims which Connecticut some- 
what exultantly made when she exhibited her charter. 

Before the charter had been published in Hartford, thirty- 
two inhabitants of Southold, having .notice that Long Island 
came within the patent, submitted to Connecticut ; and the 
General Assembly, on the day when the charter was pub- 
lished, received their deputy, and authorized the inhabitants 



i68 

of SoLithold to elect a constable, without pretending to go 
through the formality of releasing them from their oath of 
allegiance to New Haven. At the same meeting — it was on 
the 9th of October, 1662 — we read that " severall inhabitants 
of Guilford tendring themselves, their persons and estates, 
under the Government and Protection of this Colony, This 
Court doth declare that they doe accept and owne them as 
members of this Colony, and shal be ready to affoard what 
protection is necessary. And this Court doth advise the said 
persons to carry peaceably and religiously in their places 
towards the rest of the Inhabitants that yet have not sub- 
mitted in like manner ; and also to pay their iust dues unto 
the Minister of their Towne, and also all publique charges 
due to this day." Furthermore, Stamford and Greenwich 
were accepted under the charter government and constables 
were appointed for them, as John Meigs was then or soon 
after appointed for Guilford. Towards the end of December 
Dr. Rossiter and his son went to Connecticut, returning on 
the next to the last day of the month with "two of their mag- 
istrates, marshall, and sundry others," who (to quote from the 
records) " comeing into the town at an unseasonable time of 
night, their partie by shooting off sundry guns caused the 
town to be alarmed unto great disturbance, and some of them 
giveing out threatning speeches, which caused the governor 
to send away speedily to Kranford and Newhaven for helpe, 
which caused both those townes to be alarmed alsoe, to 
great disturbance, the same night, which caused sending of 
men both from New Haven and Branford." 

So the controversy between the colonies began. There 
could be no question, except in the minds of a few enthusi- 
asts, what the result would be. On the side of the loyal New 
Haven men there was the feeling that they were wronged, 
showing itself sometimes in a sort of ineffectual bluster and 
sometimes in pathetic though extended appeals for justice, 
and there was also the conviction that they were contending 
for the principles which had lain at the foundation of their 
government from the very first. On the side of Connecticut 
was the feeling of power and the determination to assert it, 



169 

joined, no doubt, with the belief, that it was for the interest of 
all that her claims should be acknowledged. And there 
seem to have been many who, for different reasons, were dis- 
satisfied with the New Haven system, or at least persuaded 
that it was useless to attempt to retain it; and thus men like 
Governor Leete and men like Dr. Rossiter weakened the 
cause of the colony in which they lived and strengthened that 
of the other colony. Still, the struggle might have lasted 
longer than it did, had it not been for outside pressure. In 
July, 1664, news was brought to Boston that the king had 
made a grant of the New Netherland to his brother the Duke 
of York, and that the grant covered the whole of Long 
Island and all the main land between the Connecticut River 
and Delaware Bay, including therefore the whole of New 
Haven colony and a large part of Connecticut. New Haven 
was obliged to choose between a union with her sister colony 
of Connecticut and submission to the governor who repre- 
sented the Duke of York. She decided in the only way 
which she could decide, and accepted her fate. The repre- 
sentatives of the chartered colony and the royal commission- 
ers first agreed that " the creeke or river called Momoronack" 
should be the boundary between Connecticut and New York. 
Then, on the thirteenth day of December, 1664, there was a 
meeting of the General Court at New Haven, " together with 
the Freemen of New Haven, Guilford, Branford, and part of 
Milford, and as many of the inhabitants as was pleased to 
come" ; and on the next day " the Freemen and other inhab- 
itants of the colony" — the old distinction was practically 
gone — voted, with an apparent reservation which really meant 
nothing, to submit to Connecticut. And finally, at the election 
in May, 1665, Mr. Leete and four others who had been mag- 
istrates of New Haven Colony were elected Assistants of 
Connecticut Colony, and the union, to the manifest advantage 
of all concerned, was permanently concluded, the General 
Assembly voting " that all former actings that have past by 
the former power at New Haven, so far as they have con- 
cerned this colony (whilst they stood as a distinct colony), 
though they in their own nature have seemed uncomfortable 



170 

to us, yet they are hereby buryed in perpetual! obliuion, never 
to be called to account." The union with Connecticut thus 
effected marks the limit of the period assigned to me. 

I think, Mr. President and Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen, 
that there is no history which for variety of interest and for 
usefulness of example better repays our study than that of 
our early settlements in New England, "the book of the 
generations" of those who laid here the foundations for great 
commonwealths and a great nation. As I have traced before 
you rapidly the outlines of the history of the settlement of 
this ancient town, of the years of its independence and of 
those during which it was united with other towns in the 
colony of southwestern New England, I have attempted to 
show how the spirit of sturdy independence at all times ruled 
here, in union with that spirit of concession and consideration 
of circumstances which is so essential a part of true wisdom 
and true patriotism. We do not fail in respect for our an- 
cestors when we confess that they made mistakes and that 
their actions sometimes tended to results at variance with 
their professed intentions ; but we do fail to give them the 
reverence which is their just due, if we neglect to acknow- 
ledge the loftiness and purity of their motives and to confess 
that in the day of small things they did a work the benefit of 
which has accrued to all the generations which have come 
after them. " The Lord hath wrought great glory by them, 
through His great power from the beginning. There be of 
them that have left a name behind them, that their praises 
might be reported. x^i.nd some there be which have no me- 
morial. But with their seed shall continually remain a good 
inheritance, and their children are within the covenant. The 
people will _ tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will 
show forth their praise." 



THE POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND SOCIAL 
HISTORY OF CUILFORD 

FROM 

16*65 TO i86r. 

liV 

BERNARD C. STEINER. 



[Mr. Steiner, a grandson of Hon R. D. Smyth, is a descendant of 
William Seward, 1654 ] 



The Struggle for separate existence was now over and the 
jurisdiction of New Haven was no more. With its fall, 
perished the cherished hopes of many of the inhabitants. 
They had left England to establish a government in which 
they might worship in their own way, and which, therefore, 
should be free from all worldly pollution. The settlers of 
Guilford, originally independent, had united with New Haven, 
because, by so doing, the advantages of union would follow, 
and furthermore. New Haven was built on the same founda- 
tion. But to lose the old existence and become an integral 
part of lax and grasping Connecticut was a sore blow to the 
good people of the town. Then too, the course of Bryan 
Rossiter, in endeavoring to drag Guilford into Connecticut, 
had doubtless embittered their feeling. Small wonder is it, 
that influential men, like the Kitchels, left to join Abraham 
Pierson and his Branford followers, in establishing a new set- 
tlement where the original severity of manners might be 
maintained.* 

* They founded Newark, New Jersey, a town which, though it has far outgrown its parents 
still proudly claims its " splendid heritage " from " the men and women from Guilford and 
other neighboring towns." 



1/2 

The majority, however, led by the wi«e and moderate Wil- 
liam Leete, accepted the situation and tried to make the best 
of it. So, in May of 1665, Mr. Sherman -and Mr. John Allyn 
went from Hartford to Guilford and administered the free- 
man's oath to all formerly freemen and to as many others as 
were qualified, and in the same month Connecticut established 
a court at the town. 

Back came Bryan Rossiter from Killingworth, which he 
and others of his party. had settled the year before, to end his 
troublous life in Guilford, though for some time his contro- 
versy with the town dragged on. Other settlers came gradu- 
ally from one place and another and the town slowly grew. 

In its internal affairs it kept on in the regular tenor of its 
way. Every little while was held the town meeting, sum- 
moned for years yet by beat of drum, at which assembled the 
farmers from the different sections, warned by the men so ap- 
pointed. 

The great concern at first, and for a long time, was the 
allotment of land. Men were appointed to size the meadows 
at Hammonassett, to consider some way of laying out another 
division of upland and meadow, to fence the ox-pasture at 
Sachem's Head, and to mend the young cattle fence at East 
River. A third division of land was made in 1667, and in 
1685 the Town obtained a patent for its lands from the legis- 
lature. The next year the total area of the town was com- 
pleted by the purchase of North Guilford from the Indian 
Nausup, for ;iCi6 12s. A division of this land was ordered in 
1691 ; but apparently did not exhaust all that was unoccu- 
pied; so later there was a fifth, sixth, and seventh division. 
Indeed, that august body, the Proprietors of the Commons 
and Undivided Lands, did not cease to hold meetings and 
grant tracts of land until 1826, and the last entry in their 
books is dated as late as 183 1. 

A prohibition was early laid on the exportation of cedar 
from the town, and this was later extended to other kinds of 
wood. 

Every few years a committee was appointed to adjust the 
boundaries of the town, and permission was given, from time 



^73 

to time, to " drown and kill " a swamp ; though the right was 
afterwards taken by the Governor's Council. Falcon Island, 
after passing through the hands of Leetes, Baldwins, Islops 
and Stones, was sold for ^325 to the United States, in 1801. 
On it a lighthouse has been erected, which, since that time, 
has warned the mariners of danger. 

But town meetings had other functions which, though often 
uninteresting to-day, were important in their time and fill 
many pages of the old records. 

Roads and bridges were ordered there, one highway being 
petitioned for in 1720, "since the neigboring farmers which 
belong to the town of Killingworth desire that there may be a 
way there that. So with Conveniency, they may enjoy Lec- 
tures and other neighborly Converse in Guilford." 

Wild animals, in the unsettled state of the country, gave 
much trouble, and so bounties are ottered, time and again, for 
foxes, wolves and wildcats, and in 1683-4, " poyson was to 
be gotten of Rev. Mr. Eliot, with his directions for the improv- 
ing of it for the poysoning of weaselses." Cattle were also 
troublesome, pounds are constantly being established, and 
penalties for their going at large are frequently enacted. 
Swine, it is true, might, " if well yoked and ringed," go abroad; 
but are to be declared unruly and impounded if they break 
through "tollerable" fences. In 1702, the East farmers "are 
allowed to put their rams in their sequestered land " and 
sheep, geese, cattle, horse-kind, and mules are regulated at 
various times. From 181 7 onward, we find frequent enact- 
ments in prohibition of the using of seines in Lake Quone- 
paug and West Pond, and the more important interests in 
oysters begin to find protection in the year 1753. Once 
begun to be legislated upon, this industry has been a source 
of continual anxiety. In 1824, round clams also received 
attention from the town, and three years later, " muscles and 
other clams" were added ; while, after a year more, provision 
was made that any one might obtain private property in oyster 
beds by laying down the shell-fish under direction of the 
selectmen. The town smith's tools, which were of so great 
value at first, later lost their importance and were sold in 1693. 



1/4 

At town meeting, furthermore, were read the laws enacted 
at the last session of the Legislature ; this being the regular 
way of their publication. 

In 1688, the tcwn empowered the townsmen " to look after 
the town's bounds and to defend the town's rights against any 
that shall infringe them," and then the records are blank for 
a year. These were the gloomy times of Sir Edmund An- 
dross ; but the plucky little town meant its daring words. 
Hearing that the charter was concealed at Mr. Andrew Leete's 
in Guilford, commissioners were sent down from Hartford to 
search for it. They lodged for the night at the southeast 
corner of the Green, intending to prosecute their search the 
next day. But William Seward, the captain of the train band, 
heard of their arrival, and marshaling his company before 
their windows, aroused them. With drawn sword, he informed 
the delegates that Guilford was no place for them and that he 
was there to escort them from the town. Against their will 
they yielded and were soon outside of Guilford, which suffered 
no more from them. 

Town meetings were not always concerned with local 
affairs. Sometimes they stepped into the field of state or 
national politics. In 1773 the town instructed its representa- 
tives at Hartford on the Wyoming matter, as absolutely as 
any southern constituency in ante-bellum days : "Where- 
fore, as this controversy will bring this colony under a heavy 
load of expense, without the most distant prospect of success 
and, if obtained, would be no real advantage to this colony, it 
is our undoubted right and we hereby instruct you to use your 
utmost endeavors and influence to stop all further proceed- 
ings." Here the town was right, but the colony at large, 
unluckily, did not agree with it. In the next spring dele- 
gates were sent to a convention at Middletown to draw up a 
protest to the assembly and, a month later, their report was 
accepted. Delegates were also sent to another convention in 
1783 to arrange measures about commutation, but were dis- 
continued a few months later. 

In 1788 General Andrew Ward and John Eliot were sent 
to the convention for ratifying the United States Constitution 



175 

and, it is to be regretted, voted no. In 1794, the town voted 
disapproval of the sale of western lands, the proceeds from 
which later formed the school fund, and also that it would use 
its influence to postpone the same. 

In the fall of 1808 the town endorsed the protest of New 
Haven against the embargo and, the next February, a com- 
mittee of eleven was appointed "to prepare resolutions on the 
alarming state of the country." They declared that : 

Whereas, it is the Indisputable duty of a free people to 
keep a vigilant and watchful eye upon their rulers and, view- 
ing the distress and misery brought upon all classes of the 
citizens by the general government ; 

Resolved, That we view it to be the duty of all citizens to 
submit to the laws, though oppressive and unconstitutional, 
rather than resort to violence, till constitutional means of 
redress are tried and, as we view the embargo for an wnlimited 
time an infringement upon the constitutional compact entered 
into by the several states, as it encroaches on the state 
sovereignties ; 

Resolved, That we will unite with the well disposed of our 
fellow-citizens, in a constitutional way, to obtain a speedy 
redress of our grievances." 

After this elevated language, it is rather a fall to find the 
next intervention in public affairs a petition to the Legis- 
lature, in 1836, for a standard measure of potatoes and 
turnips. 

In 1818 William Todd and Nathaniel Griffing were sent as 
delegates to the State Constitutional Convention, but the 
staunch, conservative town rejected the fruit of their labors 
by a vote of 159 to 255. 

In the olden days most strange and wondrous officers were 
chosen at town meetings. Brandmarkers of horses, keepers 
of ordinary, men to lay out land, townsmen, mill committee, 
surveyors of highways, men to keep boys in order during 
church, — these come early ; packers of beef and pork, listers, 
poundkeepers, fence viewers, hay wards, leather sealers, all 
come later, but before 1700. In the eighteenth century the list 
was increased by " cuttors of staves," hog reeves, tything men, 
'•an inspector and brander of pot and pearl ashes and of fish, 
flour and tobacco " (all one officer), sealers of Avordupois and 



176 

Troy weights, etc., till it seems as if every man must have 
held one office at least. 

Taxes were generally low and could be paid in grain, in 
early days, and flax was used for payment till after the colony 
had become a state. 

In 1837 the town received its share of the Town Deposit 
Fund, which amounted to ^6,020, and yielded annually an 
income of $360, one-half of which went for schools, the other 
half for the ordinary expenses of the town. 

The town mill was a source of great discussion, much rev- 
enue, and. frequent legislation. The saw-mill was first built 
in 1722. 

At various times from 1753 to 18 10, we find record of the 
receipt of new law books, which are distributed to the several 
Societies. 

These town meetings were held in the meeting house, till 
the time of the Revolution, In 1773, a committee was ap- 
pointed " to examine into the expediency and usefulness of 
building a town-house;" but nothing was done by the town 
for two years, as some objected to the cost, until private en- 
terprise and public spirit took the initiative. On April 10, 
1775, the town voted "to take the house which hath been 
begun and partly finished by a number of subscribers and to 
complete it." The offer of the subscribers stated that they 
had expended ^^90 and offered " the building as a free dona- 
tion to the town, if it would finish it," to be used for all public 
meetings. This is the old house, where the deliberations of 
the town meeting are held to-day; it was not finished for 
some years. In 1780, Captain Dan Collins was directed " to 
procure a lock for its door"; shutters were added in 1786, 
and not till 1793, did the town vote to complete it. In 1801, 
the selectmen were authorized to lease the lower part for five 
years and again, after that period, for a " Store of dry and 
West India goods." 

In 1 81 2, it was voted "that the upper part of the house 
should be rearranged," so as to hold more, and, eight years 
later, it was ordered to be moved from the Green to its pres- 
ent site. Baptist and Methodist churches met there for a 



177 

time. In 1852, an abortive attempt was made for a new hall, 
and, equally without result, was the appointment of a com- 
mittee, four years later, to try to alter it, so as to keep the 
ground. 

The old church, built on the Green in the early part of the 
eighteenth century, was a splendid structure. It had the 
first spire in the State, and its clock, the oldest in Connecti- 
cut, if not in New England, was "rectified and kept in order" 
for many years by Ebenezer Parmelee, who was " freed from 
serving in town offices " therefor. 

In 1724, the surplus from the town mill furnished £^S fo^ 
a bell for Guilford, ^8 for one for Madison, and £^ for one 
for North Guilford. 

Indeed, Guilford was a place of some importance. It was 
one of the eight ports of entry established by the legislature 
in 1703, at which time Josiah Rossiter was made Naval 
Officer. In 17 19 it was made the seat of a probate district, 
embracing Guilford, Durham, Saybrook, Killingworth and 
Branford, and futile attempts were made, at five different 
times, to make Guilford County from those towns. In every 
case, the bill passed the lower house, but failed in the upper. 
In 1739, the town voted ;^ioo extra " for gaol and court 
house," if such county should be formed. But, though the 
town failed to become a Northern Guilford Court House, it 
did obtain one of the earliest boroughs in the State in 18 15. 

As the town grew the farmers at the East End became 
desirous to attend worship and pay ministers' rates at Killing- 
worth, as it was five miles nearer than Guilford, but no defi- 
nite steps were taken till 1695, when the Legislature allowed 
their request. Guilford did not readily accede to this and, five 
years later, voted "to collect ministers' rates from tr// the in- 
habitants." In 1699 "the neighbour farmers petition the town 
to be allowed to become a village " and were cuttingly 
answered that the town would consider it if the East End 
people would pay their arrears of taxes. However, in the same 
month, they voted them a grain mill, as though a palliative. 

In 1703 their request, again preferred, was granted and 
ratified by the Legislature, while, two years later, the town 



178 

" frees the people of the East Society from town charges, they 
obliging themselves to bear all the charges that may arise 
among themselves for bulls and bridges and wolves and all 
other charges," and, after two years more, somewhat snap- 
pishly, the town decides it will "pass no more votes concern- 
ing the East Society." In October, 1707, the society is 
formally incorporated and, three years thereafter, the name 
of East Guilford is first mentioned. 

In 1783 a petition was preferred to make it a separate town 
and was granted by the town, but the matter went no further, 
and not till 1823 was the effort renewed. In 1824 Guilford 
appointed a committee " to run the boundary between it and 
the new town to the eastward and to see about the advisability 
of Guilford's being transferred to Middlesex County, if it could 
thus become a half shire town." The latter part was unsuc- 
cessful, but the result of the former part was the making of 
the town of Madison in May, 1826. 

North Guilford was first called Cohabit, because the early 
settlers, about 1705, going up on Monday and returning home 
on Saturday, lived together while there. In February, 1720, 
" bounds were given it for a society," which were ratified by 
the Legislature and, in 1727, it was named North Guilford by 
an act. It has ever been noted for the number of educated 
men coming from it. 

In 1733 the farmers at Black Rock were granted permission 
to build a pound and North Madison began to be settled only 
a few years before that date. In 1749 it was allowed a min- 
ister for the three winter months. 

Bezaleel Bristol was one of its principal settlers and from 
him the society was called North Bristol, at its incorporation 
in 1753. 

The Guilford Green, now so beautiful, was in the last cen- 
tury an unenclosed field, partly occupied by buildings, yet it 
received some care, for enactments were made forbidding 
removal of gravel therefrom and authorizing the leveling of it. 

Several quaint and sensible laws were made as to shade 
trees, one of which reads : " Whereas proper and convenient 
shades in the highways are found by experience to be of public 



179 

benefit and advantage, therefore, for promoting the same, the 
selectmen are to mark them with a G and then there is to be 
a penalty following their being cut down." 

Guilford has never been a wealthy town, yet it has ever had 
but few paupers. Consequently there are but few items as to 
care of the poor in the old records. 

In 1699 liberty was granted to set a small house in the 
Green for an almshouse, but it doesn't seem to have been done, 
and not till 1790 was an attempt again made to have one. 
That attempt was also an unsuccessful one, and, as late as 
1 8 10, the vote was passed "that the selectmen should let all 
such persons who are wholly on the town for Maintenance 
and support, at public vendue, quarterly, to whomever shall 
undertake to keep them the cheapest." In 18 13 it was at last 
voted to build a poor house,'but in dividing property when the 
town divided, that went to Madison, and not till 1849 did 
Guilford have another. 

The health of the village has always been good. In 1751 
an awful epidemic in Madison carried off forty-five. Among 
them was Deacon Timothy Meigs, on whom a lamentation in 
fifty stanzas was written. Two will suffice: 

" Until at last, death seized fast 
Our well beloved Deacon, 
Whose sickness strong, first seized upon 
Him, when he was at meeting. 

A heavj- Stroke that from us took 

This good and useful Man, 
How deep the wound, how sad the sound, 

The Lovly Miegs is gone." 

Smallpox was much dreaded and pesthouses were several 
times ordered. In 1795, presumably to provide nurses, it was 
enacted that "if small-Pox break out, the families of Caleb 
Dudley and Nathaniel Dudley may take the small-Pox, by way 
of inoculation, under the direction of the selectmen. A new 
protection appears in 1826, when Dr. Silvanus Fancher is 
granted $100 to vaccinate the inhabitants with the kinepox. 
When people did die they were carried on biers, within the 



i8o 

memory of some now living, to the old burying ground on the 
Green. In Madison the burying yard at Hammonassett was laid 
out at a very early date and the one near the center about 1690- 

In 1691 the town chose Mr. Joseph Dudley "for the 
making of cojfifins on all occasions of death," and a few years 
later " John Tustin is chosen to dig graves and allowed four 
shillings for a grown person and three shillings for lesser per- 
sons," he finding his own tools. 

In 1 73 1 the town voted "that the palls or cloaths to cover 
the Coffins of ye Dead, when carried to their graves, shall be 
purchased at town charge and paid for out of the ernings of 
the mill, and Each of the three societies shall have the bene- 
fit of one Cloath." The cemeteries were at first unfenced ; 
Hammonassett, in 1758, being the first to be enclosed, and 
that "because its Herbage being worth something," it might 
be leased for pasturage. 

Madison Cemetery was fenced in 1789 and the Guilford one 
not till the early years of this century. 

Manufactures, except for home use, were of slow growth. 
Shoes were made to a large extent and sent over the country. 
Iron works at Still Water Brook in North Madison were 
operated in the last century. Madison long had a large coast- 
ing trade in wood, and vessels have continually been con- 
structed there. 

The schools of Guilford have been good from the very first. 
In 1674 the town defined the duties of its school teacher as 
"to instruct all sorts and that from their ABC, and to be 
helpful in preaching when required." As the town spread, 
other schools were established in Madison, 1688, in Nut 
Plains, 1714, in East River, 1716, and Moose Hill, 1748. 

In 1854 was built the "Guilford Institute," given by Mrs, 
Sarah Griffing. It has duly cared for the interests of higher 
education from that time, fitting youth for college or the 
world. 

The people of Guilford have always been well educated, 
and the Triennial Catalogue of Yale University counts over 
one hundred and sixty names of Guilford men ; while part of 
the college was situated in the old town, in its early years, 



I8l 

when the tutors, John Hart of Madison and Samuel Johnson 
of Guilford, lived at home and had their classes with them. 

Lee's academy opened in Madison in 1821, which continued 
many years till its place was filled by another, the Hand 
Academy, the gift of a native of the town. As the sons of 
Guilford grew to manhood they went to settle new territory 
on every side. The first inhabitants of Durham were Guil- 
ford men. They went ever to the frontier, whether it were 
Litchfield County, Vermont, Central New York, Ohio, or 
California. Everywhere they carried with them the influ- 
ences for good which they had imbibed in their early home. 

As some went, others came. After the first generation had 
almost passed away, came John Hodgkin from Essex, Eng- 
land, Thomas Griswold from Wethersfield, Benjamin Hand 
from Long Island, Andrew Ward from Stamford, Comfort 
Starr from Middletown, and Ephraim Darwin, said to have 
been a relative of the great naturalist. Peter and George 
Coan, leaving Worms, Germany, in 1730, drifted here, as 
Charles Caldwell from Evain, Scotland, had done twenty 
years earlier ; and Thomas Burgis, impressed in England on 
a man-of-war and deserting at Boston, came later. The 
Landons and Lopers came from Long Island in the middle of 
the Eighteenth century, the latter family claiming descent 
from a Spanish Lopez. 

When the Acadians were torn from their native land, tradi- 
tion has it that some of them were left at Guilford by a 
British vessel conveying them, and it is certain that appro- 
priations were made by the town for the French family and 
for the old Frenchman, shortly thereafter. After the massa- 
cres in St. Domingo, several families of the refugees settled 
for a time at Guilford. One of these, the Loiselles, is said to 
have occupied the old Burgess house and to have painted it 
black, when news came of the guillotining of Louis XVI. 

Of the men of the town, Governor William Leete, calm, 
resolute, wary, moderate, and sagacious, who is said to have 
hid the regicides, claims first place. 

His son Andrew Leete, who, tradition saith, kept the 
charter in his house here during much of Andross's suprem- 



I82 

acy, was also prominent in the colony, being an assistant 
many years. 

Abraham Fowler and Josiah Rossiter were also honored 
with a seat in the colonial upper house. 

In the last century Col. Samuel Hill, whose beautiful hand- 
writing delights all who read the old town records, was so 
honored by his fellow townsmen with the offices in their gift, 
that an old story is told that at freeman's meeting, after the 
Moderator had been chosen, he would rise and say : " This 
meeting is called to elect Col. Sam Hill and some one to go 
with him to the General court." But time would fail me to 
tell of all ; of James Hooker, first Judge of Probate, Col. 
Timothy Stone, Gen. Andrew Ward, and his father, the 
Colonel of the same name, Gen. Augustus Collins, Squire 
William Todd, Nathaniel Griffing, Joel Tuttle, Judge Edward 
R. Landon, and others I cannot even name. Of those who 
left Guilford for other parts of the country you will be told 
this afternoon. But the name of one Guilford man cannot be 
passed in silence. Coming here in 183 1, he became as de- 
voted to his adopted residence as the most faithful of her sons; 
he did more for Guilford history than any other man, living 
or dead, and dying, left behind him the reputation of " a pro- 
found scholar, an upright lawyer, and a faithful Christian," the 
Guilford antiquary, Ralph Dunning Smyth. Without his 
life-long labor of love this address could not have been written, 
and many dark places in the town's history would have 
remained forever obscure. 

The people were not warlike, yet they never disregarded, 
the call to arms. On June i, 1665, William Seward was 
chosen "Capitaine of the Guard for the year ensuing and had 
liberty to choose his men." From that day to this rarely has 
the town lacked a military company. The company offices 
were filled by the election of George Bartlett, lieutenant; and 
Samuel Kitchel, ensign; and, at that time, the town stock of 
ammunition was 140 pounds of powder and 235 pounds of 
lead, which the colony records declare to be not " compleat." 

The non-commissioned officers were chosen by the soldiers, 
the commissioned ones by town meeting, and later by the 



i83 

soldiers subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. Of 
these militia offices men were so proud as to put a record of 
them on their tombstones. 

In 1672 they procured a man from Hartford "to mend the 
town's arms," which were soon to find a use, for only a few 
years later broke out King Phillip's war. 

Though Guilford did not suffer in this war, there was great 
fear. Two garrisons were ordered and from fourteen years 
old all were pressed to work on fortifications. The town 
generously voted " that all damage to houseing by enemies 
shall be born and made good by the towne in generall " ; sent 
men to fight under Major Robert Treat and Mr. John Talcott ; 
and voted its soldiers after the war a recompense "of tenn acres 
of land," thus anticipating the policy of the United States. 

The war of William and Mary, in 1690, made the town vote 
"to have a fortification about Mr. Eliot's house" and that 
" the great guns be set up on carriages and fitted for service." 
The town early developed that predilection for artillery, which 
it has retained to this day, and, in 1697, refused to give up its 
cannon to two representatives of Connecticut who wished to 
transport them to New London, " as they wanted them for 
their own defense against the common enemy." These guns 
were finally sold in 1739. 

For keeping the town ammunition Andrew Ward received 
five shillings a year in 1703, and four years later the select- 
men were to sell town arms and, if need be, to procure 
ammunition. This town stock of ammunition was later kept in 
the loft of the meeting-house and, in 1744, the selectmen were 
ordered to build a house for it, which was not sold till 18 13. 

As the town grew other train bands were formed. In 1705 
East Guilford had one, in 1708 the one in the center was 
divided, and in 1727 one was established in North Guilford. 

In 1705 a watch of three persons nightly was set for a 
month, in consequence of some alarm. 

In 1745 Col. Andrew Ward of Guilford commanded a com- 
pany at Louisburg, and in the expedition at Fort William 
Henry two companies of Guilford men participated under 
Oliver Dudley and Nathaniel Johnson. 



184 

General Ward and Colonel Ichabod Scranton also com- 
manded companies of Guilford men in the Second French 
war, but the only Guilforder whose individual exploits have 
come down to us is the Indian Picket, who, at the battle of 
Lake George, found Baron Dieskau. the French general, 
wounded and carried him. a prisoner, within the English linos. 
Although thus made a prisoner the Baron gave his purse to 
his captor in gratitude for having saved his life. 

The peace of Guilford itself remained unbroken from the 
death of the Pequot Chief, who gave Sachem's Head its name, 
till the Revolution. In that conflict Guilford look a place, 
honorable for patriotism and remarkable for lack of bitterness 
towards the Loyalists. 

In December. 1774, the town, " at a full special meeting." 
voted, in grand words. " that sensible that, in the present crit- 
ical times, union is of the greatest importance it will accede to 
the American Association and endorse the acts of Continental 
Congress." 

They further appointed a committee of correspondence. 
which was also to receive donations for the poor of Boston, 
and in the next spring sent forty-five men under Col. Noah 
Fowler and twenty-three more under Ensign Jehiel Meigs 
(who was too soon to die of privation in the field), at the 
alarm of Lexington, to fight at Bunker Hill. 

The Congress of New York came to Guilford for aid. after 
Long Island had been lost, and so the good sloop Polly took 
across the sound to Connecticut " five loads of horses, cattle, 
sheep, hogs, people, and household goods." 

General Ward led a brigade of Connecticut troops to the 
Continental army. and. in the dismal winter of Valley Forge, 
induced them to dig the trenches which the haughty South 
Carolinians disdained to do, and finally led them home, 
starving, to their starving families, long after their term of 
service had expired. 

On October 20, 1776, a watch of twenty-four men was set 
nightly, scarcely to be given up during the whole period of 
the war, and maintained with but little aid from the State, 
though the long stretch of seaboard in the town exceeded that 
of almost any other on the coast 



i85 

Not alone in the field was the town active. Committees of 
inspection, to provide for soldiers' families and to inspect pro- 
visions, were appointed. 

A bounty of ;)^io was offered in 1777 for every soldier en- 
listing "for three years or the war," and a tax of 6 pence in 
the pound was laid to pay this. 

Articles were to be sold according to prices fixed by Gen- 
eral Assembly, and all refusing so to do " were to be deemed 
enemies to their country and treated accordingly." One of 
the town's great guns was sent to East Guilford and signals 
were arranged to show from what quarter the enemy came. 

On May 29, 1777, Col. Return J. Meigs, himself of Guil- 
ford stock, led an expedition from Sachem's Head, in three 
sloops and thirteen whale-boats. In twenty-four hours, with 
one hundred and seventy men, he crossed the Sound to Sag 
Harbor ; broke up a depot of the British there, destroying 
much property ; took ninety-six prisoners without losing a 
man ; and returned safely to Sachem's Head. For this ser- 
vice Congress voted him a sword. 

Singularly enough, the next month saw the first descent of 
the British on our soil, at the place from whence Col. Meigs 
set sail, for on June 17 a party from three British ships landed 
at Sachem's Head and burnt Solomon Leete's house and two 
barns. That fall the town set up salt works, but the project 
was unsuccessful and was soon given up. In December the 
British landed at Point of Rocks and burnt Timothy Shelley's 
house. 

In January, 1778, the town adopted the Articles of Con- 
federation between the United States, acting here as often as 
though an independent body. The pressure of want was 
now being felt, a committee was appointed to state the prices 
of the necessary articles of life and some one has written on 
the margin of the old record book the expressive words " tuf 
times." 

In February, 1778, the bounty of ;!^io was again offered, 
as it was twice later, and taxes rose that year to twelve 
pence in the pound ; yet that was not the very worst, for 
the tax in 1779 was five shillings in the pound I ! I This 



1 86 



tax was payable in anything the Selectmen should judge 
necessary for the support of the town's poor, or of the soldiers 
families. 

Some time after Burgoyne's surrender four of his troops 
came to Guilford and were concealed in the house of Samuel 
Johnson. Endeavoring to escape in a whale-boat on West 
River they ran aground, were captured and obliged to confess 
where they had been hidden, whereupon Mr. Johnson was 
fined and mercifully let off with that. On June- i8, 1781, the 
most serious attack of the British was made. About one 
hundred and fifty men landing at Leete's Island, where 
Deacon Peletiah Leete had built a guard house a short time 
before, and finding no opponents, set fire to the house and 
barns of Mr. Daniel Leete ; they then advanced towards the 
village, when the alarm was given. Captain Peter Vail, as- 
sembling his company as quickly as possible, led them toward 
the smoke of the burning buildings. When they approached 
the enemy a spirited attack was made, our men firing from 
behind fences and trees. Captain Vail becoming exhausted 
from heat, Lieutenant Timothy Field took the command and 
drove the enemy to their boats, with the loss of six or seven 
men. Simeon Leete, whose tombstone is conspicuous on 
the roadside to-day, and Ebenezer Hart of the Guilford men, 
were mortally wounded and Captain Vail, being in poor health 
at the time, went into a decline and died from his over-ex- 
ertion. 

All Guilford men, however, were not patriotic and the brave 
Captain Samuel Lee and his equally courageous wife had 
many an exciting adventure with Tories. In 1767, the Rev. 
Bela Hubbard of Christ Church wrote of his parishoners : 
"During the late strife about stamp duty they preserved a 
loyal and dutiful regard to his majesty's imposition." Some 
were Tories to the very end, so that in 1781 a Legislative 
committee came and recorded twenty men as " inimical and 
dangerous persons." After the war was over, in 1790, the 
town meeting voted that these proceedings, which were orig- 
inally entered on a fly leaf and not in their proper place, be 
expunged. In the same spirit, at different times, six men 



i87 

were forgiven fines imposed "for refusing to pay an active 
obedience to the Military Institution" or "for refusing to 
march when draughted in the late war." 

In 1782, at the very end of the struggle, came the last 
desqent of the British and the only one in Madison. Land- 
ing near the east wharf, they were met by the militia, under 
Captain Phinehas Meigs, and repulsed with loss ; yet we, too, 
suffered, for the gallant leader of the Americans fell, shot 
through the head 

Guilford's further military history, during the period allotted 
to me, is little but a record of militia training days. In the 
War of i8j2 a volunteer artillery company was raised in 
Guilford, which had two brass field pieces, kept in the town 
house, and another in Madison, which had an iron cannon. 

A company of state troops, not liable to service out of it, 
was formed in Guilford and Branford, with Abraham I. Chit- 
tenden, Abraham Rogers and William Todd as commissioned 
officers. A detachment of this company served at New Lon- 
don under Lieutenant Todd and at New Haven under 
Lieutenant Rogers. 

At the close of the period given me to treat, the clouds of 
war darken again and Guilford, as ever, does more than her 
duty. But of that, it falls not to me to speak. My task is 
done, if I have shown some few glimpses of the history of 
a town, settled by those "in whose veins ran the best blood of 
England's gentlemen." It is not a history filled with startling 
events, or with record of rapid growth, but it is the story of a 
people, which at the beginning founded an independent nation, 
"with a completer constitution than any other in the world," 
which, " more than most others in the state, retained the 
ancient manners of the New England Colonies," and which 
to-day have not lost their ancestral spirit and reputation 
among the sister towns. 

In days of old, the freeman of the seven hilled city stood 
forth to the world and made the simple but proud assertion, 
"Civis Romanus sum." Looking back at the honorable past 
of our town, may not we all, no less proud than he, gladly say : 
" We, too, are free born, for our ancestors were men of 
Guilford ! " 



GUILFORD AND MADISON DURING THE 
LATE WAR. 

BY 

MISS KATE FOOTE, GUILFORD. 



[Miss Foote is a descendant of Eli Foote (177-) and ( ).] 



The title of this paper covers a multitude of good deeds. 
It means what was done by us who stayed at home ; by the 
towns through their men who could not enlist, could not go 
into active service themselves ; by the women who were not 
expected to go to battle; in short, what was done by all of us 
who saw our brothers, sons and husbands "go to the war." 

The pages of history in glorious lines give the work of our 
brave boys on battle-fields and on weary marches. The 
names of Ward Benton, of Henry C. Dudley, Ellsworth 
Hull, Charles Benton, of Edwin Leete and Samuel Grisvvold, 
of Edward Hart and James Dowd and Edgar Ely, of all 
those on our Roll of Honor, dead and alive, are written in 
history or chiseled on the monuments we have raised to them ; 
they are deeply graven still in the hearts of many of us — 
their fame is safe. To-day I give you those whose duty it was 
to stay at home, those whose work it was to uphold the hands 
that were raised in defense of the cause we loved. In a gen- 
eral way we knew that the furtherance of war required men 
and money in vast quantities. How to raise the money 
became the question with the men who were left behind. 
How to look after those who were gone and give them the 
few comforts that a soldier can have in the greatest quantities 
was the question with the women. 

In Guilford we had our little troubles in learning: what to 



1 88 

do for the soldiers. We gave ourselves to "havelocks" at 
first and used up three bolts of linen in that way. At the 
beginning of the war we all thought that south of Washing- 
ton one stepped immediately into the tropics. After we heard 
a soldier tell that the water in his canteen froze under his 
head one night when he was sleeping on it in a South Caro- 
lina swamp we began to realize that tropical countries were 
where the geography had always insisted they were, strictly 
under the equator. I fear that our havelocks went to pave 
Virginia soil and to one duty only, that of cleaning the sol- 
diers' guns. We got over that very soon and then we organ- 
ized and went to work in a regular way. There was a vast 
army in the field ; there was another at home — a back coun- 
try, so to speak, of willing, loving hearts to fight from. We 
formed ourselves into a Soldiers' Aid Society in Music Hall, 
at that time Congress Hall, in the late spring of 1861. 
Madison formed a like society at nearly the same time and the 
officers were : Mrs. Henry Lee, President ; Mrs. Philander 
P. Coe, Vice-President ; Mrs. Elihu Kelsey, Secretary. And 
from that we went on. By following with perseverance some 
of our lady citizens here and in Madison I gathered a few sta- 
tistics. 

" We sent off five thousand yards of bandages in casks in 
three days. I remember how they sewed at one end of the 
room and how Mr. John Stanton helped me pack them at the 
other end of the room. Then they wanted two hundred 
hospital shirts. Some of us were detailed to cut, some to 
sew and one," said she, with a smile, ' was sent into the streets 
to notice which way a shirt should button, from left to right 
or the reverse.' The first man I met I did not dare look at 
for fear I should laugh, but with the second, I was aware that 
time was flying, and I used my eyes to some purpose and in 
five minutes more I was able to go back and report." 

I said the work of men and women is more or less inter- 
linked. Madison sent a special committee to the field, Mr. 
George Dowd, Mr. Samuel R. Crampton, Mr. S. H. Scranton. 
They were to look after and assist volunteers from Madison- 
Mr. Scranton caused it to be known that he would on a cer- 



190 

tain day go down to Falmouth, Virginia, where the r4th 
Regiment was encamped, and would take at his own expense 
whatever eatables the soldiers' friends would send. He was 
obliged to start at the moment he said he would because his 
kitchen, cellar and wood house were piled high with the boxes 
and packages sent in response to his kind invitation. Mr. 
Scranton had a pass signed by the Secretary of War and had 
no difficulty in getting through with his valuable freight. 

Guilford has not on its records the mention of any such 
committee appointed by the town. They were appointed by 
private hand. ' The people of the Third Congregational 
Church spent part of the hours of their Thursday meeting in 
taking subscriptions to send newspapers to the soldiers in the 
field and to the hospitals both. The New Haven papers, the 
Nczv York Independent, Harper s Magazine, and The Atlantic 
were down on the list and followed as faithfully as they 
could the fortunes of the three-months' men, and later those 
who enlisted for three years or the war. The Rev. William 
Smith, pastor of the First Congregational Church, after the 
battle of Antietam went down to Boliver Heights, taking 
with him a supply of provisions for the men in the 14th Regi- 
ment. It may be that these very boxes packed full of home- 
made good things, cheered the heart of the beloved Captain, 
the Rev. Samuel Fiske of Madison, when he wrote so feel- 
ingly of the "inevitable hard tack and salt junk with bean 
coffee," and then he said, " I can speak from experience of the 
raptures of a starved and generally used-up Lieutenant over 
the possession of a loaf of real bread, the first that had made 
his heart glad for weeks." 

So nearly as men's work can be divided from women's 
work I make the division in this article. How much the 
women sustained and cheered the men, how much the women 
suffered in seeing them go, are things not upon any records, 
that never can be put upon any page, one feels like bowing 
his head and remaining silent when these deepest and sad- 
dest feelings are mentioned. 

Neither upon the town records is any account of the linens 
and jellies, the quilts and mittens and blankets that went to 



191 

the hospitals and the Sanitary Commission. Mrs. Henry B, 
Starr brought to the store of Mr. John A. Stanton, where 
much of the packing was done, a great pile of family linen 
marked in blue and dating back 25 or 30 years. We should 
like some of that now in our collection of relics — "but," she 
said, "though of ancestral value it can never be put to better 
use." Others did the same. I came myself, one day, upon a 
stock of nice old home-made linen, the solid, honest stuff our 
great-grandmothers wove, a generous pile of it, down in 
South Carolina, in a field hospital, where it was being cut 
and used for wounds and for sick men, in ways the spin- 
ner and the weaver never dreamed of when she bent over her 
loom. I said to the surgeon, "Some good woman opened her 
heart when she gave these. She must have said to herself, 
somebody's boy will get these treasures if mine doesn't," and 
he handled them more gently, I thought for a moment. 

We gave generously and forgot with equal generosity. If 
it was hard to find what the men of Madison and Guilford 
gave at private hand, it is harder still to find what the women 
gave. I asked the members of the Soldiers' Aid Society 
here and in Madison, have you any idea now how much you 
sent and they said — "Not very much — I remember going 
about to collect and we sent off at one time three barrels and 
24 boxes full of all good things. At another time — well — it 
was more boxes, and that is all I can tell." 

One lady to whom I wrote asking if she could tell what 
her mother (now dead) had done, that she had given a great 
deal, I was sure, but nobody knew exactly how much, 
answered, "You could not have appealed to any more ignorant 
person than I to know what my mother did for the soldiers' 
comfort. Something possibly could be learned from the bank 
book and cheque stubs of those years, but I doubt if they are 
still in existence, or even if one would be able to decide for what 
purpose they were used. I suppose she did whatever she was 
asked and in the way she was asked." That account is 
entered on a higher and more shining page than any here and 
no blot, we may feel sure, mars its perfection. 

Much was sent by private hand as well as to the sanitary 



192 

commission. Mr. John A. Stanton, who helped me compile 
what estimates I have been able to make, remembered mark- 
ing forty-three barrels of vegetables that were to go to 
soldiers, Mr. S. H. Scranton remembered thirty barrels of 
potatoes ready to go at one time — these were very little by- 
plays, mere trifles to show that we were full of good feeling. 
From all sources Guilford contributed 1^2,500 a year, or 
;^ 10,000 during the four years of the war, in ways that may 
be called womanly. Madison must have given nearly as 
much, because her women are never behind the men, and we 
shall presently see what the men gave. 

The guns of Sumter woke us, like the rest of the loyal 
people, from our long and peaceful rest. We were still a little 
inclined to rub our eyes and look about us when the Presi- 
dent's first call for troops came and completed our awakening 
— 75,000 volunteers to do a three months' service. It came 
on the morning of the 15th of April. It was a businesslike 
beginning, and after the awful feelings of uncertainty which 
had prevailed during the winter of 1861 it was a relief to 
know that the remedy was to be short and sharp. Soldiers for 
three months — Guilford must do her part as one of the oldest 
towns of one of the oldest commonwealths. Accordingly, I 
find an especial town meeting called for the 30th of April. 
The paper for the call for this meeting is in the handwriting 
of Dr. Talcott, and was signed by Mr. J. M. Hunt, Mr. Bev- 
erley Monroe, Mr. H. E. Norton, Mr. S. D. Munger, Mr. 
George E. Kimberley, H. N. Chamberlain, E. C. Phelps, 
James Monroe, John Graves, Cornelius Wildman, Albert 
Wildman, J. A. Stanton, Charles E. Chittenden, H. B. Gris- 
wold, H. W. Scranton, James R. P^risbie, Henry Hale, John 
Hale, N. E. Leete. 

The selectmen, to whom it was presented, cast their eyes 
over it to see whether it had the required number which em- 
powered them to call an extra meeting. Yes, there were the 
names of twenty good men and true, of both parties, the re- 
quirements of law were fulfilled, and they put down theirs 
with alacrity — A. 11 Morse, Henry Fowler, Luzerne C. Ros- 
siter. 



193 

Mr. Samuel C. Johnson was chosen moderator and they 
met in the old Town Hall to discuss war and war rules for the 
first time since that venerable shell had reared its head into 
the air. The war of 1812, the war of 1840 had not called 
out any expression like this. 

The sheet anchor resolution to sustain the National gov- 
ernment, now struggling for its very existence, went first as 
if to make a substantial platform, and on that was set, first a 
resolution, "that every inhabitant of this town, whether mar- 
ried or single, who shall go forth to fight for his country shall 
receive our care and support" — and then — for the man who 
fights must be sustained and comforted in all ways, then came 
the vote of money to suitably arm and equip the volun- 
teers. There was a little bit of independence and State 
rights about that. We were ready to clothe and arm our 
soldiers, we did not demand it of the United States govern- 
ment, and on the heels of that a committee was appointed to 
carry out the intentions of this resolution. Mr. James A. 
Norton, Albert B. Wildman, Beverly Monroe, John H. Bart- 
lett, Calvin M, Leete, Samuel W. Dudley and William M, 
Dudley. 

Then came the last resolution, a committee whose pleasant 
duty it should be " to erect forthwith a Liberty Pole upon our 
Public Square not less than a hundred feet high, and place 
thereon a magnificent flag of the stars and stripes, and also 
another one upon the Green at North Guilford." With the 
selectmen for this purpose the committee, Mr. Eber S- 
Hotchkiss, Mr. Samuel S. Stone and Mr. Russell Potter. 

Some of us remember the strong slender pole that arose on 
the Green a few days after this, and the first woman's work for 
our country was the making of the flag which floated from its 
top. This was done by Mrs. Samuel Stone and her daughter. 
Miss Ruth Stone. 

Madison held her first special meeting May 2d, 1861. 
The preamble of her first meeting was presented by Mr. E. 
C. Scranton, and in it we see a premonition of the length of 
the war, which was prophetic; none of us could believe it 
would be a long struggle. Madison said, "the President of the 



194 

United States has made a requisition upon the Governor of 
this State for one or more regiments of soldiers for the de- 
fence of our National Government and property and for the 
vindication of the laws — other and similar requisitions will be 
made before a lasting peace is attained and rebellion is van- 
quished — interest, patriotic duty, self respect, and obligations 
to the heroic men of the past whose names and blood we in- 
herit, alike demand that, as individuals and as a community, 
we do our part in the great struggle." 

The resolutions that followed put the musket into the 
soldiers grasp and then authorized a loan to the town of 
$3,000, to keep it there, and also promised to remember his 
wife and family while he was gone. 

Then both towns buckled down to their work. Money and 
men — money and men. The three months' enlistment, 
closing with the battle of Bull Run, told us that the struggle 
was to be sharp and — not so short as we had fondly hoped. 

When our late war broke out there was one man who had 
the power to see that we wanted more of a navy and a differ- 
ent kind of ship from any before used. He knew a model 
which would give us the thing we wanted. He had energy 
and zeal enough to follow the government, which was inclined 
to laugh at the plans he showed, until he received a grudging 
permission to build this new sort of ship. The permission 
was burdened with the clause that he was to build in a hun- 
dred days and if she failed to conquer when put to the proof 
the money she cost should be refunded to the government.. 

History, for, as I said, history has given us the work of our 
brave boys, history, says the confederates took the Merrimac, 
a former frigate of the United States navy, which had fallen 
into their hands, and sheathed her with railroad iron, giving 
her also an iron prow. On March 8th, 1862, she sailed out 
into Hampton Roads and the Cumberland and the Congress 
and the rest of the United States fleet went down before their 
clumsy adversary, which looked like a barn afloat. Suddenly 
the Monitor appeared and the fortunes of war changed. We 
saved our navy, and England and France looking on went to 
building iron clad ships from that day. The man who had 



195 

the energy and forethought to plan all this was C. S. Bushnell 
of Madison. Erickson carried the Monitor and he carried 
Erickson. 

Extract from letter to Miss Foote from Admiral Worden, 
dated 

"Quaker Hill, N. Y., Sept. qth, 1889 (p. m). 

" I have always thought that Messrs. Bushnell, Winslow and Griswold 
have never received from their country the applause they deserve for the 
patriotic and practical support they gave to the government in its hour of 
need, for to them is undoubtedly verjHargely due the credit for the build- 
ing and equipping of the Monitor in time to enable her to meet the desper- 
ate emergenc}' at Hampton Roads in 1S62." 

Another especial meeting was called in Guilford on the 
29th of July. The terms of enlistment for the three months 
men had run out and the men were returning, yet the war 
was to go on until we were again the United States. The 
President had issued a call for 300,000 volunteers. At this 
time the town voted a bounty of ^75, to which Mr. S. B. 
Chittenden added ^25, making it ^100 for each enlisted man. 

Let me here mention the great difficulty I have had in find- 
ing out how much was done by private hands in this sort of 
way by the men of our two towns. By accident I came upon 
Mr. Chittenden's addition to the ^75 bounty, and I know that 
other men gave from their own money, men not as rich as he, 
but who still gave liberally. Some of those who are now liv- 
ing I wrote, asking them to tell me what they had done. 
Invariably the- answer was, "I kept no account; I did not 
desire to. If I had a dollar more than my necessities required 
I gave it cheerfully." Mr. F. A. Drake said there were other 
men who were glad to give as well as I, of whom I recall a 
few. Then he mentioned their names : E. R. Landon, 
Albert Wildman, John Hale, who are dead and beyond the 
reach of our voices. But there were others, too, still living, 
who were proud to give for the defense of our union : Mr. 
Calvin Leete, Mr. John R. Stanton, Dr. Talcott ; in Madison, 
Mr. E. C. Scranton, Mr. Bushnell and others. Good deeds 
sometimes come home to roost as late as twenty -five years 
after they have gone forth. 



196 

Madison held her second especial meeting a day before 
us, and voted a second appropriation of ^5,000 and re- 
solved that from the bounty of a hundred dollars to each 
enlisted man, twenty-five dollars should be reserved for a 
fund for those disabled or sick, and for their families in case 
of need, and named Mr. E. C. Scranton, H. B. Washburne, 
and William S, Hull as a committee to carry the vote into 
effect. It also made an especial paragraph on its records for 
some non-resident men who enlisted in Madison. They were 
to receive the same bounty as the others who were natives. 
I find in the Madison records one point that I did not notice 
in those of Guilford. They especially stipulated that the 
collectors of this tax which the town laid upon itself to sup- 
port its soldiers, should not receive any extra fees for doing 
the work. They should receive only the regular payment, 
such as had been voted to the regular collector. When a 
New Englander regards an act in the light of duty, he offers 
no premium upon it. 

It was a time of taxes. Each loyal town was wiUingly 
burdening itself with debt, and besides that the government 
was studying the question of how to raise money. It too 
was laying taxes on all sorts of goods and property, they 
came in on all sides, upon matches, upon dozens of articles 
appeared the United States tax stamp, and we had to pay 
those indirectly or directly; and then besides all this each 
town deliberately set up its own private taxation as bounties 
to its volunteers, and for the care of their families. There is 
no parade, or uniform or brass bands, no flash or glitter, or 
sentiment about a tax — it means a steady grind upon one's 
pocketbook — it means prompt payment, there is no compro- 
mising with one's tax list. The collector will not take one's 
note of hand. How men hate their taxes. The aboriginal 
man has sometimes objected to becoming civilized for the 
reason that he must then be taxed. By its readiness to tax 
itself you can gauge the willingness of a people in any great 
undertaking. 

Madison, at her annual town meeting, held October 2d, 
1S65, voted to lay a tax of two cents on a dollar upon herself 



197 

and by this promptness payed her war-debt almost immedi- 
ately.* 

The work of defending the union went on. There is again 
an especial meeting, for I notice both in Madison and Guil- 
lord records that especial meetings were always called when 
there was a question of something to be done for the soldiers, 
as if they wished to give their whole minds to the great ques- 
tion before them. Only twice do I find in a regular town 
meeting held in Madison an allusion to the soldiers, and that 
was to confirm a vote passed at an especial meeting, as if to 
settle any question or doubt there might have come up about 
that particular paragraph. Through all these especial meet- 
ings there was devotion to the one object — care for the volun- 
teers, and Madison and Guilford both sent special committees 
into the field, among the men themselves, to see that they 
were as well taken care of as — as — a soldier can be. Of them 
I spoke on an earlier page. 

Madison held in all five special meetings and Guilford 
seven. I think there was some quarrelling in our town 
towards the last of the war. The page of records is very 
reticent on this subject. But one could hardly help reading 
between the lines, when one observed that the three last 
meetings instead of being "dissolved" were "adjourned" and 
met again in a few days, and — again — instead of dissolving 
met once more at the end of a week. 

Madison, too, had her little troubles of the same sort, visi- 
ble on the records, although nearly forgotten now, so smoothly 
has time rubbed down all our ancient difBculties. There is 
always a ''prudent'' party to every public expenditure, and 
the strain of the long war, the demand for men, the money 
that the town was paying out, brought the prudent element 
to the surface. They did not want to see the town run into 
debt too deeply. They did not like to seethe selectmen em- 
powered " to borrow 25,000 on the faith and credit of the 
town," as it was quaintly expressed at one meeting. They 
did not love taxes. Neither did the rest of us ! But we 
must fight on to the end. We did. It was a creditable end 
when it came. Madison sent to the war 152 men and gave 



198 

by a vote of the town ^16,065. Guilford sent 308 men and 
gave $21,166. 

We can always say to the prudent ones whose faces were 
long when they thought of our debt, " the solution of the 
question of the war for the maintenance of the Union was 
worth more than it cost. There have been useless wars, but 
this was not one of them, says John Fiske : " It was in 
the direct interest of peace, and the victory was an earnest of 
future peace and happiness for the world." 




DINNER. 



Arrangements were made by the Committee on Hospitality to bring the 
guests and residents together in a social way at a Picnic Dinner. A large 
tent was erected on the lot adjoining the postoffice, on the east side of the 
Green, and provided with tables and seats for 700 people. The tables were 
most bountifully supplied by the ladies of the two towns and 3,300 were 
fed during the intermission, Colt's band playing some fine selections near 
the entrance to the tent during the dinner. 

Great credit is due Captain R. L. Fowler of Guilford and Judge H. B. 
Wilcox of Madison for the completeness of the dinner arrangements. The 
attractive appearance of the long line of tables, decorated with bouquets 
of flowers, was noticed by all, and the company' of young lady waitresses 
were very efficient. 

After the dinner, the Presideut of the day and other guests 
spoke as follows: 

Ellsworth Eliot, M. D., a descendant of Rev. Joseph 
Eliot (1664) and William Leete (1639), said: 

Friends and Fellow-Citizens: We frequently hear of certain impor- 
tant events as happening but once in a life-time. Far less frequentlj' does 
the privilege of commemorating quarter-millenial days fall to the lot of 
mankind. Eight or nine generations of men and women have preceded us, 
who could enjoy it only in imagination. As many generations will succeed 
us before the citizens of Guilford will be again summoned for . 'milar 
purpose. 

The duty has been assigned to me to express the feeling of those who, 
having left the old home, have been kindly invited to join with the resi- 
dent citizens in celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversar}' of the 
settlement of the town. This I do most cordially. We lose not a jot of 
Interest in its welfare by absence. A traveler who brings news from the 
home of our fathers, or a paragraph in the newspapers, preceded by the 
words Guilford, Conn., arrests and absorbs our attention. We are proud 
of our native town, for the many useful men and women she has contrib- 
uted to the nation. Be assured that we carry with us in our pilgrimages 
loving remembrance of those left behind. The beautiful Green with its 
adjoining churches, the broad and shaded streets with their time-worn 
houses, the rocks, the hills, the rivers, the woods, the shore and tlie sound 



200 

beyond, with Falcon Island in the distance, are iadelibly impressed upon 
our memories. Nor can we forget the familiar faces of our childhood, or 
the graves of our ancestors. 

The profession to which I have the honor to belong requires of its mem- 
bers that they should hear all the people have to say to them, but should 
tell nothing. You will, therefore, not expect extended remarks from your 
presiding officer, but, rather like yourselves, he should listen to those 
whose eloquence will charm us. But let me say, in closing, Guilford, thus 
far happy and glorious, may happiness and glor}' await her during ages 
yet unborn. 

Mr. Sidney W. Leete, a descendant of Governor William 
Leete, said: 

Mr. President: The twelfth commandment is, "Thou shalt not apolo- 
gize," and I will try and keep it; but, like the Irish member of Parliament, 
I wish to say a few words before I begin. The time it takes is not to count. 

I am called here "to speak' in behalf of the town" to this great multi- 
tude of returned prodigals. I was also told, " You are to speak about five 
minutes " This, I suppose, refers to the time I am to speak and not to the 
subject of remark. The kind and thoughtful chairman inserted this saving 
clause, "You are to say exactly what you please." 

Before I undertake the pleasant duty first mentioned, I wish to speak of 
one or two things that demand notice. As citizens of Guilford we stand 
to-day in the shadow of a great affliction. The chariots and horsemen 
have taken from us a master whom we loved and delighted to honor, a pil- 
lar on which we had learned to lean heavil}'. He has gone to the Master 
whom he served so faithfully, who said, " Where I am there shall also my 
servant be," and whose word of promise to the ear was never yet broken to 
the hope. He is now, we doubt not, a pillar in the temple not made with 
hands. More fitting words than mine will be said of him, but none more 
true. The dignity and courtly grace of his bearing were exceeded only b}' 
the goodness and faithfulness of his life. We shall miss his kindly and 
gracious presence from our streets, and we shall miss him most of all in 
such w" - as we are doing in this celebration. His last words were con- 
cerning this work, and his interest in its success was equal to that of any 
other man. Our hearts are filled with grief, our eyes with tears, and from 
our lips the ancient cry breaks forth afresh: "Help, Lord, for the godly 
man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men." Faith- 
ful as a soldier, faithful as a minister, faithful as a citizen, he enjoys the 
reward of the faithful. Rest, soldier, rest. 

" Still may thy mild rebuking stand 

Between us and the wrong, 
And thy dear memory serve to make 

Our faith in goodness strong." 

Faithful saint, hail and farewell. We do well to mourn together here 
to-day. " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." We 



20I 

find great comfort in the fact that the mantle of our friend has found its 
way to worthy shoulders. These shoulders belong to the honored rector of 
Christ Church, the worthy chairman of all the committees of this celebra- 
tion. In goodness and faithfulness the peer of his predecessor, we can all 
join in saying of him as Halleck said of Drake. . 

" None know him but to love him. 
None name him but to praise." 

He is a remarkable man. His ubiquitous presence is wonderful. If 
you ascend he is there. If you descend, behold ! he is there. If you 
hide in the darkness, even there his eye will discover you, and from thence 
his hand will bring you out. A prodigious worker himself, he makes 
everybody else work. He does every thing well, be it playing crambo or 
running a celebration. It is true of him as Lowell said it was of Willis, 

" That had he been born 
Where plain bare-skins the only full dress that is worn. 
He'd have given his own such aa air that you'd say 
'T had been made by a tailor to lounge in Broadwa}^" 

But he does make us 7vork so. We can't live ivithout him, and much as 
ever we can live ivith him. Our great fear is, when this celebration is 
over, there will be nothing left of him. Heaven forbid ! 

I have not time to speak of all the Gideons who in this work have fought 
a good fight, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, (and made people 
keep them) stopped the mouths of growlers, put to flight the armies of 
aliens. Their name is legion. They were everywhere, and would surely 
catch you if you didn't "watch out." "As if one did flee from a lion, 
and a bear met him." The spirit of their master was upon them all. But 
I should fail sadly in my duty if I did not mention one of them, not second 
even to the chairman, the loved, honored pastor of the Third Church. 
He climbs high who reaches a higher place in the esteem and affection of 
Guilford people. May his shadow never be less. Bennett, Andrews and 
Banks, — a trinity of goodness seldom found in so small a town as ours. 
Better an hour of such men's lives than a cycle of Cathay. 

You can time me now, Sir, I am ready to begin. 

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, children from Madison and chil- 
dren from all parts of our broad land, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, 
and dwellers in Mesopotamia, strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 
Cretes and Arabians, and if there be any other creature, we bid you wel- 
come here to-day. You are a great company, but the old town's heart of 
love is large enough, and her arms of love are long enough, to take you all 
in. Come in, children, one and all. Again we say welcome, welcome, 
thrice welcome, to the old town, the good old town, the dear old town of 
Guilford. God bless her for e7'er. In the sea of faces before me I see 
many interrogation points asking, "Why was he appointed to that place?" 
I behold also many exclamation points crying " Alas ! alas ! " That's just 
the way I feel. IVhy the appointment was made, may be because the 
committee wanted some one to give character and dignity to these e.xer- 



202 

cises. Or, it may be they could get no one else. Which of these is the 
trite reason I will not sa)% but it was not the Jlrst. I had two good reasons 
for accepting the call. The chairman of the committee said if \ dared lo 
refuse he would do a dreadful tiling, — a thing which if done would con- 
sign him to a horrible fate. To save him I sacrificed myself. And another 
good reason was, he said, " You will be assisted by Senator Hawley." If 
I chance to say what the Senator intended to have said I am sure he will 
forgive me. But I am )iot sure what he can say. I am reminded of a story 
I read long ago. A distinguished Senator once went to a prayer meeting. 
This, Mr. President, is a true story, or, at any rate, the first sentenee is. 
Let me repeat it. A distinguished senator once went to a prayer meeting. 
After remarks by several of the brethren on various topics, came one of 
those dreadful pauses which will sometimes come in such a meeting. At 
last the senator arose and said, " As all other topics seem to be exhausted, 
I will make a few remarks on the tariff." If Senator Hawley can't think 
of any thing else to say, we shall be glad to have him speak on the tariff. 
If I should speak on the subject, I should say, the tariff will be well 
enough, if the doctors will let it alone. 

I must have a word in regard to our fellow-townsmen from Madison, for 
" the}^ are our brothers yet." There are those who say, "There is bad feel- 
ing between Guilford and Madison." J tell you nay. There is nothing 
between us but a small stream and that is fast running away. No great, 
fixed gulf is there. All who wish can pass to them, from us, and all may 
come to us who would come from thence. Hardly a day passes in which 
some of them do not come to see their mother, and they are always wel- 
come. The division between us is not real. As a matter of fact, " we two 
are so joined " one will not go to glor}' leaving 'tother behind. We wel- 
come them all to the family circle, never more gladly than to-da}', and 
assure them that " as it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be." 
But I must hasten my word to the other children, wanderers to and fro in 
the earth. To you the old mother reaches her hand of greeting. For ever}' 
one there is a warm place in her heart, and it will be a eold day when you 
get left. Right gladly does she bid you welcome. You have heard that it 
was said b)' them of old time, "The rolling stone gathers no moss," or, as 
the new version has it, " The stone that doesn't roll gathers nothing else." 
Roll on, then, gathering wisdom with the rolling years. Go your ways. We 
could not keep you if we would, and would not if we could. We send you 
forth as sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents. Forget not, we pray 
you, the old town. If any ask you, " How about old Guilford?" let your 
answer be swift of foot, " Slie is all right." Old, did I say? A/if no. 
.Site is not old. Because of your presence here to-day she has renewed her 
5'outh. Call her not c/f/. She is young again. Her eye is not dim nor het 
natural force abated. Call her not old. Your coming has put glad/iess in 
her heart more than if you had filled her houses and streets with corn and 
wine. Call her not old. Again she has the dew of her youth and she is 
;/()/ old. The olil must die, but she is Fortune's now, 

" And Fame's — 
One of the few, the immortal names, 
That were not born to die," 



203" 

Lieutenant-Governor S. E. Merwin said: 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: A few days since I had the 
honor of an invitation to join with the people of Milford in celebrating 
their two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, which was gladly accepted, for 
in that town my ancestor on mj' father's side was one of the first settlers 
and there he lived and died. To-day I am under obligations to you for 
your kind invitation to take part in j'our two hundred and fiftieth anniver- 
sary, and it is not strange that it gives me more than ordinary interest, for 
on the mother's side I trace back my ancestry to a familiar name in Guil- 
ford, to-wit — the name of Spencer. 

Two hundred and fifty years ago, under the guidance of Almight}' God, 
a little band of brave men and noble women settled in your beautiful town. 
Whether they left their homes over the ocean because of religious persecu- 
tions or for personal gain matters not, they were an honest, hardy. God- 
fearing people, and for their coming we of this day and generation are 
reaping a rich reward. No doubt their religion would be sharply criti- 
cised by the average theologian of to-day, but that is not strange. 

Probably their manner of doing business would be looked upon by us as 
anything but business-like. Let us remember that two hundred and fift}- 
years have intervened, and that each generation has been looking forward, 
and not backward, except to see where they could improve upon the old 
way. Let us honor their memories for coming, and give each generation 
that followed full credit for their advancement. And unless the present 
generation leaves to that which follows, a higher order of Morality, Virtue, 
and Christianity, a higher respect for law and order, more love for the 
Government that has protected our homes, our liberties and our lives, we 
shall prove unworthy of the blessings transmitted to us, and will have lived 
in vain. From the daj's of the first settlers until the present the people of 
Connecticut have been first and foremost in every good work. Two hun- 
dred and fifty years ago they gave to the world the first written constitution; 
it was adopted by Connecticut and has since become substantially the con- 
stitution of every State and of the United States. It was here in those 
early days that the fundamental principle of a government of the people, 
for and b}' the people, originated. The patriots of old were a peace-loving 
people, yet as brave as they were peaceful, and the spirit of Mason, famous 
in the Indian fights, and that of Putnam of Revolutionary fame, has been 
transmitted to the present generation, and when, in iS6r, the hand of dis- 
union was raised, 50,000 of the bravest of the brave buckled on the armor 
of war under the Blue banner of Connecticut, and later swore allegiance to 
the Government, and under the Stars and Stripes went forth to battle to 
preserve what our forefathers had bequeathed to us as their richest legac)% 
the Constitution and the Union. 

Mr. Joel Benton, a descendant of Edward Benton, who 
was one of the earliest settlers, although not sworn in as a 
freeman till 165 1, made remarks and read the following 
poem : 



204 

Mr. PRESIDENT; AND (I want to say) Friends and Neighbors: I am 
limited, I believe, to rhyme to-day; but I ask for a moment to overstep the 
programme, and to say a few words that do not rhyme. I never come to 
your beautiful town without wishing to apologize for my ancestors, as I 
think they would like to have me do, for ever leaving it. But they did not 
leave it without deep regrets. The reason for their departure was one they 
would have obviated gladly, if they could have done so. They went away 
solely because their estate was so widely scattered in detached pieces, that 
it became burdensome to do eas}^ farming with it. And yet, so loyal were 
thej' to this commonwealth, they barely overstepped its boundaries into 
New York. By going into the famous Oblong strip, they found land which 
Connecticut once owned, and on which its shadow still falls, in a single 
compact farm, which it did not require a several miles' journey to go 
around. But Guilford they always remembered warmly; and, not infre- 
quently revisited. 

The church in which we are assembled stands on the home lot they left; 
the well they drank from is still in use in its cellar, and the upright portion 
of their house still does respectable duty here, a mile or more away, 
though they left it 95 years ago. And to us who descended from them, 
they made all that concerned Guilford forever fragrant by pathetic recital 
and eulogy. 

There are a hundred things more I should like to say in prose, but I am 
admonished I must proceed to the task which you have assigned to me: 

TWO hundred and fiftieth anniversary poem. 

Two centuries and a half have fled 

To the dim chambers of the past. 
Since our forefathers — hither led — 

The fortunes of these townships cast. 

How long the ceaseless march of years, 

What perils on an untried way. 
How many doubts and hopes and fears 

Formed what we here behold to day. 

But they were men of texture true. 

Of virtues stern, in action wise, 
The best that dominant Europe knew — 

State builders, heroes in disguise. 

Within their racial lines the clew 
To England's high-won rank is told; 
> Under this sky's autumnal blue. 
Their fadeless history we unfold. 

We little know what pangs were borne, 
What tender ties broke when they came. 



205 

What desolate days, what siyhts forlorn 

Frowned on their path — which, not for fame, 

Nor brutal deeds of high emprise, 

Nor wealth, which dreams of avarice ask, 

Bore them beneath barbarian skies; 
But nobly did they do their task. 

Their new built homes the savage saw, 
Their lives they held within their hand; 

For years no strength of arms or law 
Made this a safe or happy land. 

The ravening wolf and hungry bear 
Hung close upon their dail}' walk; 

Dread danger taught them to beware 
The scalping-knife and tomahawk. 

The house still lives they built to make 
Their refuge, and a town defense; 

O may it, for their memory's sake. 

Still stand unnumbered centuries hence. 

Men were they of a lofty strain. 

Picked people, hardy pioneers — 
Of all who dared the Atlantic main. 

How ver}^ few have been their peers. 

Plain planters, used to daily toil. 
Who simple lives and pleasures chose; 

New England's cold, unbroken soil 
They made to blossom as the rose. 

The tilth of England never bred 

Farmers whose skill was more than theirs; 
Men who in townships wiselier led. 

Men better versed in life's affairs. 

God-fearing were they — not afraid 
To show their faith on land or sea. 

Who on the ship their covenant made 
Of brotherhood and piety. 

'Twas this that helped New England blood 
Mold all the continent to its fate; 

Each conquering cause, all schemes of good. 
Forces which make a nation great. 



206 

Grew out of thoughts the)^ planted here, 
A torch that lighted Freedom's flame; 

O ma}' these neyer disappear, 

But live illustrious, as they came. 

• The mother, wife, and maiden too. 

Shared hardship with this sacred band; 
The work their hands found ways to do. 
Has put its imprint on our land. 

Their righteous love, their tender grace. 

Their household manners rare and sweet, 
I see your homes in many a face 

To-day illustrate and repeat. 

We could not — if we would — forget 
Their matchless service or their worth; 

No sun of hope shall ever set 

While such remain to bless the earth. 

Guilford! To-day how dear its sound, 

With Madison, its next.of kin; 
What fairer places shall be found 

Than these our fathers entered in ? 

Two centuries and a half! How long 

The backward vision spreads to-da}'; 
No gift of speech, no power of song 

Their blissful triumphs can portra)'. 

I leave the tale just touched, not told. 

But, while the sun stands in the sky, 
Their histor}' never shall grow old. 

Their cherished memory never die. 

General Hawley said : 

That he felt pleasure at being present, because he loved Connecticut. 
The nation is poor which had no historic consciousness or traditions. That 
was a poor people who did not look forward to a grand future. Connecti- . 
cut was going through a change. The experiment had to be made, whether 
people liked it or not. Our ancestors would have shivered to have seen 
that nearly one one-half of our population was of foreign parentage. A 
good many inhabitants of New England come to the New World, not for 
love of New England or its institutions, but to get a living more easily. 
They would become'assimilated in time. But they must hear often of the 
settlers of New England and their deeds. "I wish," said the Senator in 
conc'usion, " our young men would realize better, the v.ilue to a nation of 



207 

state pride. The history of Connecticut is not paralleled by any nation or 
country in the world. For 250 years this state has been a free people. It 
has been in the front in all matters. I want the young men of Connecticut 
to know these things, and to know that all the time there is a demand for 
the quality that was the ruling one with our ancestors — absolute patriotism. 
I ask our young men to believe something in dead earnest, and to have a 
purpose in the world. 

Hon. Andrew C. Bradley of Washington, D. C, a 
decendant of Stephen Bradley, 1658, said: 

This morning in a casual look into a book, the Life and Letters of Fitz- 
Green Halleck, I happened upon these words of Edward Burke,, "Those 
who do not cherish the memory of their ancestors, do not deserve to be 
remembered b)^ posterity." Their peculiar aptness to my own irreverent 
condition of mind and heart toward my ancestors prior to this visit to 
Guilford was somewhat startling. And it suddenly struck me, that for 
many years I had been ignorantly and unconsciousl}' wandering along upon 
the border line of an impending doom which ere long must have overtaken 
me, and have consigned my name to like oblivion with my posterity'. 

Born in Washington, in the District of Columbia, and associated by 
descent with its earliest history, the occasion, or need for a search after an 
ancestry anterior to its existence had never arisen, or if it had arisen, it had 
never impressed its importance upon me, and I have lived in the perfect 
contentment of the faith that my ancestors were respectable. 

Topsy, a character in that remarkable book " Uncle Tom's Cabin," when 
asked who made her, replied that she "growed." Had I been interro- 
gated as to who were my ancestors, my reply would perhaps not have been 
quite so brief, but with almost equal ignorance, I should have been com- 
pelled to fall back upon the general right of every American citizen to an 
ancestral share in those good, noble, and devoted men who settled this 
country, and who founded and established upon principles which have 
made it the grandest country upon the face of the earth. Sucn a right I 
should have been compelled to claim by virtue of my citizenship, a right 
which every citizen, whether native born, or naturalized, is accustomed to 
exercise, upon the principle that having purchased and acquired an inter- 
est in the government by his citizenship he purchased a share in the an- 
cestors with it. 

Now. however, I have had a revelation of the past, and of my relation to 
it, and under its conviction I am glad to cherish the memory of the an- 
cestors disclosed, and to claim them by right, not of purchase, but descent. 

The dawn of this enlightenment came in the form a kind and polite in- 
vitation from your committee to attend these two nundred and fiftieth 
anniversary exercises of the settlement of Guilford. This invitation was 
extended to me as a descendant of one of the first settlers. It appeared to 
me that there must be some mistake, but I came here with a mind open to 
conviction. A further light was thrown upon my benighted mind in the 
infurmation conveyed by the History of Guilford, a book to be obtained 



2o8 

■ 

here on this occasion, which contains some doggerel rhymes by my great- 
grandfather, Abraham Bradley, 2d, dedicated to Guilford, and to Crooked 
Lane, by which it appears that he was born in this town. 

More light came to me in a visit around yonder corner to a spot on 
Crooked Lane where a placard marks the side of the dwelling of Stephen 
Bradle}', one of the first settlers of this old town, and my ancestor. And 
with all these, finally and fully has come the thorough awakening to and 
realization of my high privilege, in the kindly courtesy and gracious 
hospitality, which has been so liberally extended to me at this time by the 
native, and adopted citizens and temporary residents of Guilford. 

I have been asked to make a five-minutes' speech, and it shall be merely 
a greeting. 

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow countrymen, and kin remote and near, I 
glory with you in the right to claim this noble ancestry, who stood for 
truth and duty, for home and family, for civil and religious liberty, for 
constitutional government by the people and for the people, and under all, 
around all, and above all, for " that righteousness which exalteth a nation." 

[The late Rev. L. T. Bennett, D. D., rector emeritus of Christ Church, 
Guilford, had prepared the following brief address for use if there should 
be occasion for it. Dr. Bennett died very suddenl)^ on Monday, Septem- 
ber 2, i88g, and Mrs. Bennett has kindly yielded to an urgent request, made 
in the full confidence that it expressed the feeling of this whole commu- 
nity, that she would allow it to be published. Both the act of preparation 
and the address will be recognized by Dr. Bennett's friends as eminently 
characteristic, and the man himself, as they loved and honored him, will 
almost seem to stand before them, as they read the last words written by 
him for public utterance.] 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Young Men and Maidens, 
Old Men and Children: We all should derive benefit from this notable 
gathering in an increased and warmer fraternal friendliness, and in a more 
appreciative estimate of the institutions, civil, social and religious, with 
which we in this land are S3 eminently favored. Other men labored, we 
have entered into their labors. Other men (our forefathers) forsook home 
and kindred and friends and native land, and embarked for these western 
shores, hardly knowing whither the}' went. Amid weariness and painful- 
ness, amid untold hardships and constantly besetting perils, they here 
planted a colony which, from a small beginning, has been fruitful and has 
multiplied, until, like the gigantic tree whose boughs reach from the river 
to the sea, all peoples from every clime may find refuge and repose under 
the branches thereof. We, the descendants of those brave adventurers, 
have entered into their labors. All hail! embalmed in our hearts with 
devoutest, most aflfectionate gratitude, be the memory of the earl}' fathers, 
who here laid the foundations of the goodly heritage it is our precious 
privilege to enjoy. And all hail! worthy sons and daughters who have 
here assembled, on this quadri-millenial anniversary, to do honor with 
every grateful revering demonstration, to our noble parentage. Jubilate, 
- loria in Excclsis. 



209 

Rev. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, D. D., of Trinity Col- 
lege, Hartford, a descendant of Joseph Pynchon and Rev. 
Thomas Ruggles, offered the following sentiment : 

Abraham Baldwin and Henrj' Baldwin, the one foremost among the 
framers of the Constitution, as a delegate from the state of Georgia; the 
other one of its most lucid and forcible expounders, as Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States; 

and 
Their no less distinguished sister, Ruth, the wife of the celebrated Joel 
Barlow, and recognized as the most accomplished and elegant woman in 
the courts of Europe, where she accompanied her husband as Minister to 
France in the time of the Napoleon. All of them children of the Village 
Blacksmith of Guilford and among the most illustrious of her many dis- 
tinguished children. 

Henry Barnard, LL. D., of Hartford, representing the 
Connecticut Historical Society, spoke, but we have no copy 
of his remarks. 

Professor George P. P'isher of Yale College was asked to 
speak, but the hour of the regular afternoon exercises had 
arrived and he declined. 



-#-*->^^i(I^«-*-^ 



ADDRESS 



T. W. HIGGINSON. 



[Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson is a descendant of John Higgin- 
son (1641) and Henry Whitfield (1639).] 



Friends and Kinsmen, Fellow Descendants of the 
Guilford Pioneers : I come before you as one of those 
far-off pilgrims whom Mr. Leete has just described, those who 
have gathered here from Rome and Mesopotamia, and in my 
case from Athens — the modern Athens. You who dwell 
habitually in Guilford can hardly appreciate the sense of 
strangeness with which we wanderers, entering the town 
to-day, saw the date of erection recorded on each old house, 
the titles of the old streets restored and the very dwellers of 
two hundred and fifty years ago reappearing in their names, 
inscribed opposite the spot which was their dwelling in the 
flesh. It made the old town seem like one of those ancient 
manuscripts called palimpsests, on which by chemic art, the 
later inscription is effaced from the parchment and an earlier 
one stands out restored. It recalled, too, that suggestive 
legend lately brought to light among the Mojave Indians that 
we are all following in the track of our great-great-grand- 
parents ; that we are sure to reach the point where they now 
are, but that long before that time they will have died again 
and passed on to some other point, so that we never really 
overtake them. It certainly seemed to me that as I passed 
the point where the name of Rev. John Higginson was 
inscribed as residing two hundred and fifty years ago, it would 
have taken very little effort to perceive the form of that rev- 



212 ^ 

erend gentleman disappearing, with his bride, Sarah Whit- 
field, on his arm, round the corner, and that I was nearer to 
overtaking him than I shall ever be again. 

The subject assigned to me was "Whitfield and Higgin- 
son," but these are the two representatives of these names in 
whom I take the greatest interest ; although no doubt the 
paternal Whitfield, as an alleged descendant of Chancers 
sister, affords an ancestry of which to boast. I remember 
well the day when I first visited Guilford, almost a boy, and 
was taken by its eminent antiquarian, Mr. Ralph Smith, to in- 
spect the ancient house where the first wedding in my family, 
on this side of the ocean, took place. That wedding was 
doubtless a most important event to me personally — indeed it 
is hard to see where I should have been without it — but boys 
do not care much for genealogy, and I fear that the historic 
fact which took the strongest hold on me was the assertion 
that the wedding supper consisted of pork and peas. The 
tradition, if true, is still of value, and it is still an interesting 
question whether our ancestors would have bequeathed us any 
better constitutions on a diet of croquettes, boned turkey and 
ice cream. 

Years after, when all that concerned our ancestors had as- 
sumed for me a greater interest, I visited the old church in 
Claybrooke, Leicester, England, where the Rev. John Hig- 
ginson had doubtless been baptised, where he had worshipped 
as a child, since his grandfather, also the Rev. John Higgin- 
son, had been "perpetual vicar," and had according to tradition 
lived to be 102 years old and had been drowned in crossing a 
creek. It was a delicious English day, soft and moist and 
mild ; the old church stood amid a church-yard in which 
•' Gray's Elegy " might have been written ; a flock of soft 
fleeced sheep nibbled among the graves and sometimes drifted 
noiselessly within the open church door, looked about with 
timid eyes and drifted out again. All seemed immeasurably 
old, unspeakably tranquil, "a haunt of ancient peace"; and it 
left the American observer wondering more than ever at the 
powerful magnet which drew those cultivated families out ot 
those peaceful English homes to a stormy ocean passage and 
a land where pork and peas were a wedding feast. 



213 

But if we go yet a generation further back in the family 
genealogy we come to something which, perhaps, helps to ex- 
plain the spirit of the sacrifice. The mother of this centen- 
arian clergyman, one Joan Higginson, dying a widow about 
the year 1550, bequeathed seven pounds per annum to the 
poor of Berkeswell, where she died. The family record goes 
back only to her and can be traced no further. Why should 
it.^ It is a good origin. If kings and queens lay beyond 
her, any true American heart would prefer, I think, to have 
his family tree begin with an ancestress like Joan Higginson, 
widow. She did not know what the modern phrase " altru- 
ism " means and would probably have thought the plain word 
" charity" good enough for her, but it was the spirit of altru- 
ism bequeathed by her which sent her grandson, the Rev. 
Francis Higginson, across the sea, and so ultimately secured 
for her great-grandson, the Rev. John Higginson, the privilege 
of marrying a Guilford wife and Parson Whitfield's daughter. 

John Higginson came to this country a boy of 13, with his 
father, in 1629, landing at Salem after a voyage which the 
father describes as "short and speedy " inasmuch as it took 
only five weeks and three days. They made land at Cape 
Ann, and the boy may have very likely gone ashore in the 
boat which landed on what is now Ten Pound Island in 
Gloucester Harbor, and brought back, the father's journal says, 
" strawberries, gooseberries and sweet single roses." The 
same wild roses, fresh as ever, I have myself picked on that 
island this summer ; roses which it needs hardly a flight of 
fancy to call 260 years old, older than the town whose 
quarter millenial we celebrate. Sweet as those roses, single- 
hearted as they were single- petalled, is the memory of those 
good men, our ancestors, whom we meet to celebrate. 

Francis Higginson, the father, died at 42, of early fatigue 
and exposure, but John Higginson, the son, having a Con- 
necticut wife to take care of him, lived to be 92. As the 
readers of your local history know, he kept the Grammar 
school at Hartford, and was chaplain of the fort at Saybrook, 
where he rendered active assistance to the celebated military 
leader. Lion Gardiner, in his defense of the fort against the 



214 

Pequots. In 1641 he came to Guilford to assist the Rev. 
Henry Whitfield, whose daughter, Sarah, he afterwards mar- 
ried. In 1659 they sailed with five children, intending to visit 
England, after the death of Mr. Whiffield there, but put into 
Salem harbor in a storm. There he was persuaded to remain 
as his father's successor, and dwelt there until his death in 
1708. He soon achieved a reputation as one of the most 
trusted and useful of the Puritan divines. He wrote many 
sermons and prefaces which were published, and he is pro- 
nounced by the critic, Griswold, to have been " incomparably 
superior " in literary style to any other American writer of 
that early day. 

The regard of his parish may be measured in some degree 
by the scale of his salary, which was an unusually high one, 
it being ";;^i6o in country produce," which he was glad to 
exchange for £,120 in solid cash, and this at the time when, 
as Rev, Mr. Cotton said, " nothing was cheap in New England 
except milk and ministers." He took his share, doubtless, in 
the delusions of the time, abhorred the Quakers and pro- 
nounced their "inner light" to be often a " stinking vapor 
from hell." His share in the witchcraft excitement, however, 
seems to have been but a moderate one, and he summed it 
up as well, perhaps, as any writer of that time, in this brief 
statement : " They proceeded in their integrity with a zeal of 
God against sin, according to their best light and law and 
evidence ; but there is a question whether some of the laws, 
customs and privileges used by judges and juries in Eng- 
land, which were followed as patterns here, were not insuffi- 
cient." 

Two things, however, indicate that he was held almost 
suspiciously moderate in this dark matter. One of these was 
the fact, recorded by Upham, that one poor woman, charged 
with witchcraft in Salem, showed her good sense by protest- 
ing against the authority of the judges and praying to have 
her case submitted to two venerable women, one of whom was 
Madam Higginson. The other was that Madam Higginson's 
own daughter, Ann Dolliver or Dollibar of Gloucester, was 
charged with being herself a witch, though never convicted. 



215 

The bearing of this fact is in Upham's statement that it was 
a very common way of punishing a prominent man who was 
suspected of lukewarmness, thus to bring the charge into his 
own family. The two facts, taken together, indicate that the 
Rev. John Higginson was in advance of his age in respect to 
witchcraft, and this may have been due to some saving 
domestic influence brought with him from Connecticut. 

I have said that John Higginson's salary was brought down 
to ;^I20 for the sake of hard cash; and, we know from other 
sources, that hard cash sometimes included, in such cases, 
beaver skins, wampum beads and musket balls. If this salary 
was sometimes paid in musket balls, he certainly gave return 
for it in still heavier ordnance of moral truth. Here is a 
sample of his grape-shot : " My fathers and brethren, this is 
never to be forgotten, that our New England is originally a 
plantation of religion and not a plantation of trade. Let 
merchants and such as are making their cent per cent, re- 
member this. Let others who have come over since at sun- 
dry times remember this, that worldly gain was not the end 
and design of the people of New England, but religion. And 
if any man among us make religion as twelve and the world 
as thirteen, let such a one know he hath neither the spirit of 
a true New England man, nor yet of a sincere Christian." 




THE FOUNDERS OF GUILFORD, OTHER 
THAN WHITFIELD AND HIGGINSON. 

BY 

WILLIAM RUSSEL DUDLEY. 



[Prof. Dudley is a descendant of William Dudley, 1639.] 



However gratifying it may be, particularly on such an an- 
niversary as this, to know that one can trace his line and 
lineage back to more than one of the ancient and honorable 
covenanters of old Guilford, it is rather as a representative of 
his class, the younger generation, that the speaker was not 
unwilling to come back to Guilford Green, to the scene of the 
boy's hidden dreams, and say what this younger generation 
of Guilford birth, name and descent, thinks concerning the 
work of its Puritan ancestry. 

Although bearing but a minor part in it, he comes from the 
turmoil and heat of the characteristic work of the age, — that 
of Science. Like most individuals, the world only does well 
one thing at a time. There have been eras of great poetic 
and great artistic activity, eras of great architects and great 
sculptors, but none of these terms will apply to the present. 
We can, however, say that Science never wrought better than 
now ; and however destructive of old traditions, of cherished 
ideals and prejudices, it may prove at times, it is but fair to 
think that when posterity shall write down its judgment con- 
cerning the latter half of this century there wilhstand 'forth a 
philosophy of living better than any that has preceded, be- 
cause it is written in broad characters, only made'possible by 
the fundamental knowledge of material things brought to 
light by the work of to-day. It will also say,|we fondly be- 

NoTE. — The quotations from letters, also a few other passages omitted from tlie address as 
delivered, on account of limited time, here appear in their proper place. 



217 

lieve, that at least the leaders in scientific work were sincere, 
single-minded, self-denying men, gifted with a clear sense of 
duty, aud a perception of the value of absolute truth and hon- 
esty, unsurpassed. 

In all these things, truth, duty, sincerity, self-denial, the 
builders of the present have a common ground with the 
founders of this little republic of two hundred and fifty years 
ago. To read then the noble words of Whitfield, the quaint 
letters of Leete, full of moral earnestness, honesty, public- 
spirit and self-devotion — to walk again the paths of yonder 
Green under whose sod sleep so many of that brave little 
company, ought to awaken in all of this generation a pro- 
found thrill of kinship, not merely that of blood. Neverthe- 
less there is that in our hearts which tells us these men, 
or their leaders, had virtues beyond and greater than ours, of 
patriotism, of faithfulness in office, of primitive religion, 
which we would do well to consider at this time, and the 
memory of which we should never let die. 

Can we now for a moment put ourselves in the place of the 
ancient signers of the plantation covenant. The Autumn 
picture of the vale of Menunkatuck in 1639, with the brilliant 
tints of our American woods flashing for the first time on the 
eyes of these pilgrims, has a darkened background in old 
England. To you has been pictured the extortions of Charles 
I. ; the crimes of Laud, committed in the name of religion ; 
the oppression of the poorer classes, and lastly the attack on the 
many Puritans among the middle and upper classes. Should 
they resist .-* They were doubtful of the result. Should they 
submit .'' Then death to themselves and destruction of the 
liberty which, more than any other people they prized, seemed 
inevitable. What did they do } You know how some of the 
best blood of England left it for the New England ; how Pym 
and Hampden and Eliot spoke and how Milton wrote; how 
secret letters, with sentences full of stately maledictions, and 
as involved in construction as those of a German treatise, 
were dispatched to and fro and even across the Atlantic. It 
will be possible, also, to imagine that every Puritan of prom- 
inence in Old England and New England knew every other. 



2l8 

t 

and to understand how many and how strong were the ties of 
blood, friendship and common purpose which bound them 
all together. 

Rev. Henry Whitfield was a valued friend of the Rev. 
Thomas Hooker of Hartford, that profound statesman who had 
already expressed in a sermon, but recently brought to light 
by J. Hammond Trumbull, those principles of government 
which were formulated in the Connecticut constitution of 
1639, "the first written constitution known in history," " the 
most far-reaching political work of modern times " *; the 
principles which, developed by Winthrop, Leete and their 
successors, were adopted, in 1789, as the basis of the Consti- 
tution of the United States. These were essentially demo- 
cratic as opposed to the non-democratic ideas prevailing in 
Boston and the bay settlements. On account of similar lean- 
ings toward a larger liberty, Davenport and the New Haven 
Colony had been drawn to the Connecticut region ; and, 
finally, out of the yeasty tumult and gathering storm in 
England, on what day and from what port we cannot tell, on 
a ship whose name we know not, departing, no doubt with the 
feelings of mystery and uncertainty which surround the soul 
leaving this life for another world, Whitfield sailed away with 
his little company and sought this particular shore. 

In visiting Ockley in Surrey, two years since, where 
Whitfield and some of his followers had lived, we found on 
the Ockley parish register (1600-1650) the Guilford surnames 
somewhat frequently mentioned. Besides the marriage rec- 
ords of Thomas Norton and William Dudley already known 
to be there, the names of Collins, of Stone, of Robinson, of 
Stilwell were there ; and through the courtesy of the present 
rector. Rev. F. P. DuSautoy, we learned of Hubbards, 
Jordans, Stihvells, Stones, Bishops and Chatfields still living 
at or not far from Ockley. All of these names are among 
those of the original planters of Guilford. From these, his 
parishioners in and about Ockley, names almost wholly Saxon 
and perhaps linked with Surrey's soil from long before the 
conquest, and from the ranks of his Puritan friends and rela- 

♦Alexander Johnston : Conneciictit, pp. XI, 63 and 72. 



219 

tives in Kent and Cambridge, Whitfield gathered his colony. 
What must have been the spiritual force of the leader and 
the love for civil and religious liberty in his followers, that 
could draw the hearth-loving owners from those old ivy-clad 
Surrey homes, or delicately bred women and ambitious men 
from cultivated English society to seek a refuge in this 
strange land! And here, on that first Autumn, we can 
imagine the late rector of Ockley, with his old parishioners, 
looking out from among the sturdy white oaks, so like the Eng- 
lish oaks, perchance from some gentle eminence near, or from 
the more distant hill-top eastward, and noting the low moun- 
tain line stretching northward ; and we can hear him saying, 
to dissuade them from their loneliness and regret, " How truly 
is yonder hill like Leith hill ; and Albury Park might be over 
yonder and St. Martha's Church farther on. Perhaps some 
day we shall find among those hills waters as clear as the 
'Silent Pools' we know so well." Indeed, the view one has 
from the woods near old Ockley Church is not unlike the 
Guilford landscapes as one looks northward or westward 
toward the blue, basaltic outline of Totokett Mountain. 

Whitfield in choosing his men and location showed the in- 
stincts of a leader, and the following seem to be the salient 
points of his wisdom : 

He secured the companionship and aid of several men of 
good family and education. Among those were at least three 
lawyers, Samuel Di.sbrowe, William Leete and Thomas Jor- 
dan; one clergyman, John Hoadley, and William Chittenden, 
an officer of the King's service, probably not college-bred, but 
of good connections. These were to be the leaders of the 
colony. 

He chose for the remainer of the company, the sturdy 
yeomen or farmers, and others over whom he had a strong 
personal influence in or about Ockley. These were to be 
the stable body of settlers. 

His leaders were mostly young men with the courage, high 
hope and adventurous spirit of youth. For example, Hoad- 
ley was 23, Disbrowe 24, and Leete 26. 



220 

When they afterward chose the four men in whom " full 
civil power should be vested " from 1639 ^^11 i643> or till the 
gathering of the Church, we find him following the adage, 
"old men for counsel," for William Chittenden was 45, and 
presumably all were men of mature age excepting Leete. 

Whitfield and his companions clearly saw the colonies 
where true liberty prevailed (in Hartford and New Haven), 
and joined their fortunes with such. 

Lastly, they foresaw the disorganizing influences of an 
isolated life in a new and strange land, and probably for that 
reason their simple Covenant, their first colonial document, 
was signed on shipboard by a large number of the company. 
This is an oath of loyalty to their enterprise. It is a signifi- 
cant fact that before any declaration was made of the religious 
aims of these Puritans, before they had landed on these 
shores even, they taught to their followers and their children 
the first lessons of loyalty and mutual helpfulness. " We do 
faitJifiilly promise to be Jielpfnl each to the other in every com- 
mon work, according to every man's ability ajid as need shall 
require; and voe promise not to desert or leave each other or 
the plantation but zvith the consent of the rest, or the greater 
part of the company ivho have ottered into this engagement." 
These words are so practical, so earnest, so simple, that we 
seem to be back again in the early morning of the Christian 
Church. 

You have been told by Ruggles and Trumbull and all 
who have written since, that the founders of Guilford were 
all either " gentlemen or yeomen." This remafR, always re- 
peated by their descendants with ingenuous vanity, shows 
that here at least, the waves of modern commercialism have 
not swept away the old English and Colonial feeling of two 
hundred and fifty or even one hundred years ago, that the 
possession of land lent to human life the greatest dignity of 
any material possession. 

But setting aside this traditional classification, it is still 
convenient for us to look on these founders of our ancient 
community as of two classes. We cannot say there were 
those who fought and those who ran away, far from it. But 



221 

there were those who remained here to become the perma- 
nent residents, and to leave at last their ashes in our soil ; 
and there were those who, after the advent of the English 
Revolution of the seventeenth century, returned, from a sense 
of duty and the urgent call of their friends, to impart life and 
purpose to the reorganization of society in England. 

Had this Revolution never occurred Guilford would have 
been a far richer town in its men and influence. But the 
return of these men to England, for patriotic reasons it is fair 
to conclude, shows the purposes of Guilford colonists. They 
were "ready," as one of them afterwards observed, "to be re- 
moved to anyplace whither the Lord our God shall call,where 
we may carry on His work under our hands." 

The New Haven Colony, excepting Davenport and a few 
others, came professedly for trade. Massachusetts Bay Colo- 
nists had developed a character for ministerial domination, for 
quarrelsomeness and persecution, anything but enviable. The 
Hartford and Guilford Colonists were influenced, it seems to 
me, by motives worthier the apostles of civil and religious 
liberty. The Guilford leaders held themselves ever ready to 
go or come at the demands of their cause and their country; 
and it is indeed doubtful if to the cause of the Protestant 
Revolution any other American Colony contributed propor- 
tionately as many strong men. The founders of this town 
entered early into the privilege and glory of the sturdier races 
and communities of the world, to furnish the energy which 
civilizes the waste places of the earth, or beautifies and adorns 
them. England did this for Guilford and all New England. 
And even in 165 i Guilford began her long career of giving of 
her best to other lands. Since then she has peopled many a 
town of our own country and sent her sons into the working 
ranks of many cities. 

Aside from Whitfield himself, the representative men of the 
group which returned to England were Samuel Disbrowe and 
John Hoadley. The Disbrowes were well born and high in 
the councils of the Cromwellians. The elder brother John 
had married Jane Cromwell, a sister of the Protector, and 
became a major-general in his army. 



Samuel Disbrovve, according to former accounts, came over 
with Whitfield as a mere boy of twenty. It is now known 
that he was twenty -four, which seems a more suitable age to 
become the first Magistrate of the Guilford plantation, an 
office he held from 1643 till 165 1, when he returned to Eng- 
land to rise with the ascending star of Cromwell. Soon after 
Cromwell's accession, Samuel Disbrowe became Commis- 
sioner of the Revenues and Member of Parliament for 
Edinboro. Almost immediately he was appointed one of 
the nine Counsellors of the Kingdom of Scotland, and soon 
after the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland — an impor- 
tant office, with an allowance of ;^2,cxxd per annum. In 
1656 he became Member of Parliament for Mid Lothian in 
addition to the above. He seems to have entered with zeal 
into debates in Parliament and is often referred to by the 
chroniclers of the time as one of considerable influence. 

It has been ascertained by Mr. Henry F. Waters, that be- 
fore leaving America Disbrowe married Dorothy Whitfield, a 
daughter presumably of Henry Whitfield. And from the 
same source, we know Guilford affairs were more than once 
through him laid before and received careful consideration of 
the Great Protector himself* 

In our eyes Disbrowe's later career is less heroic, although 
in no wise dishonorable. When Cromwellianism was swept 
away and Charles II. came to the throne, he offered pardon to 
a large class of Puritans, and Samuel Disbrowe accepted. 
We have Charles' letter of pardon and Disbrowe's humble 
acceptance, quite recently printed. He thus saved for him- 
self his manor at Elsworth, and died there aged seventy-five, 
December 10, 1690; and the Lord Chancellor of Scotland", 
which Guilford furnished Cromwell, passed away therefore 
in the odor of sanctity and of royalty. 

The Rev. John Hoadley was perhaps a conservative at 
heart. Many queries arise in one's mind concerning him. 
Was he of gentle nature as well as of birth and breeding; and 
did the wrongs done the Puritans so fire his youthful and 
generous heart that he sacrificed all the charms of his native 

*See New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. XH, (iSSy) p 336-300. 



223 

England to join Whitfield's Pilgrims ? On the other hand, 
on his return to England did the rampant barbarism of the 
Roundheads, defacing ancient monuments, destroying the 
highly wrought tracery, the noble windows, indeed every- 
thing beautiful about England's ancient churches, serve to 
wither all that enthusiasm ? It is certain that he was quite 
ready in 1660 for the restoration of a King.* That he was a 
man of lovable nature seems to be proven by a charming 
passage in one of William Leete's letters, 1654, addressed to 
Disbrowe after the return of the latter and Hoadley to Eng- 
land : " Pray sir, forget not to show love and helpfulness to 
poore brother Hodley, * * * he was my constant Noc- 
turnall Associate whome I dearely miss." It is also quite in 
his favor that on the voyage to America in 1639 he becomes 
enamored with Sara Bushnell, daughter of the planter Fran- 
cis Bushnell, and in 1642 marries her. They had twelve 
children, seven of whom were born in Guilford. He was one 
of the famous "Seven Pillars " of the original church, was 
Deputy to the General Court at New Haven in 1645, but 
does not appear to have been especially prominent in Guil- 
ford affairs. 

To those who like to trace the course of Guilford lineage, 
it will be interesting to know that through their son Samuel, 
born in Guilford, John Hoadly and Sara Bushnell were the 
grandparents of two distinguished prelates of the eighteenth 
century, namely: John, who became bishop of Leighlin and 
Eernes, afterwards archbishop of Dublin and then archbishop 
of Armagh ; and his brother Benjamin, perhaps the most 
intellectual ecclesiastic of his century. The latter was a pro- 
nounced low-churchman and vigorously attacked the non- 
jurors and high-churchmen, and provoked a controversy oi 
long duration and a bitterness most surprising, when looked at 
from the distance of to-day. But the King and his courtiers 
favored him, and through his effective blows, the powers of 
the Convocations, the strong machines of the high-churchmen, 

* Hon. Charles J. Hoadley has interesting information, which he will publish soon, showiug 
that substantial benefits rendered the cause of Charles II. by Rev. John Hoadley were remem- 
bered by succeeding monarchs, and in part account for the peculiar favors shown the grand- 
sons of John Hoadley by royalty. — W. R. D. 



224 

became extinct. His voice was ever raised in behalf of 
greater liberty in religious matters, and he explicitly denied 
the power of the church over conscience. However strong 
his intellectual qualities may have been, the impress he left 
on his age was that of its great champion of religious and 
also of civil liberty. He was successively made bishop of 
Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury and finally translated to th§ 
see of Winchester. 

The great bishop had two sons, John and Benjamin, one 
a physician, the other a clergyman. Both were writers of 
comedies. Dr. Benjamin Hoadley assisted Hogarth in his 
"Analysis of Beauty," besides writing certain professional 
works, while his brother composed several oratorios and edited 
his father's works. At the death of these two sons, however, 
the family became extinct in the male line. 

Of those who remained in Guilford there is one important 
element of which we can here say little that is specific. They 
left no correspondence ; they entered but little into the his- 
tory of the colony, except as holding in democratic rotation, 
its responsible offices and discharging their duties with ap- 
parent faithfulness. These were the main body of planters, 
mostly farmers, some of good family connection. They were 
the bone and sinew of the settlement, but they did not 
direct,^although they modified, no doubt, its policy. 

Perhaps the best representative of this class is Lieutenant 
William Chittenden, a former officer of the English army, 
who had fought in the Netherlands and who was a brother-in- 
law of Whitfield. Besides the military leadership he held the 
office of magistrate, and was deputy to the general court for 
many years, even till his death. If he had any choice in the 
selection of his dwelling lot overlooking the silvery Menun- 
katuck and its meadows, that choice shows the eye of the old 
soldier and the man of the world, for it is the most charming 
of all the Guilford sites. This property has always remained 
in possession of his family, and from the ancestral home has 
just passed away one of the noblest representatives of this 
honorable family, the Hon. Simeon Baldwin Chittenden. 
Another descendant, fifth in line from Lieutenant William 
Chittenden, also with the blood of William Johnson and 



225 

Francis Bushncll in his veins, was Governor Thomas Chitten- 
den of Vermont, whose son, Martin, was also governor of the 
same state. 

We regret that not more is known of the Francis Bushnell 
above named ; for one of his daughters marrying, Rev. John 
Hoadley became, as we know, the ancestor of two distinguished 
English bishops, while a second daughter, Elizabeth, who 
married William Johnson, was the ancestor not only of the 
Governors of Vermont mentioned, but also of Dr. Samuel 
Johnson, first President of Kings, now Columbia College, 
whose son, William Samuel Johnson, was one of the earliest 
to move in favor of American Independence, was a member 
of the convention framing our national Constitution and with 
Oliver Ellsworth, Roger Sherman and other Connecticut- 
born members exerted that potent influence which led to the 
adoption of the Connecticut idea of government as the basis 
of that Constitution. William Samuel Johnson also became 
the first United States Senator from Connecticut under the 
new compact. 

Cornelius S. Bushnell, whose name was honorably con- 
nected with the building of the " Monitor," and therefore with 
one of the critical moments of our Civil War, was a lineal 
descendant of Francis Bushnell. What name among the 
forty planters has been more honored through his descend- 
ants than that of Francis Bushnell ? 

Time fails us to speak adequately of others. Samuel Bald- 
win, the blacksmith, not one of the covenanters, was how- 
ever the founder of a sterling family of Guilford. He was 
the ancestor of Hon. Abraham Baldwin, born in North Guil- 
ford, who was a member from Georgia of the Constitutional 
Convention and often called the " Father of the Constitu- 
tion ;" who was also the originator and first President of the 
University of Georgia, and for many years a United States 
Senator and whose brother, Henry Baldwin, became a dis- 
tinguished Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 

Dr. Bryan Rossiter, who came in 165 i, was a man of great 
force of mind and character. His vigorous resistance to un- 
just taxation largely helped to bring the New Haven govern- 
ment toppling over into the Connecticut Colony ; hence his 



226 

motives do not seem to have been appreciated b}^ the his- 
torians of that lost tribe. Through his daughter, who married 
John Cotton, he became the ancestor of many distinguished 
sons of Massachusetts. 

l^ut the most significant name in the annals of Guilford's 
Founders, all things considered, is that of William Leete. 
He rose to the rank of a colonial statesman, and with Thomas 
Hooker and John Winthrop, Jr., had a large influence on the 
political development of Connecticut. 

Leete was of good family, born in Huntingtonshire, Eng., 
in 1 613, and was therefore twenty-six when he arrived in 
America. His^ mother was a daughter of one of the Jus- 
tices of the King's Bench, and Leete himself married 
Anna Payne, the daughter of a clergyman. 

He was bred to the law, and it is related that when he was 
serving as clerk in the Bishop's Court he observed the cruel- 
ties to which the Puritans were subjected. Examining into 
their doctrines and practices he ended by adopting their be- 
lief and resigning his office. His home was but nine miles from 
Cromwell's and he was a neighbor of Disbrowe's. You know 
well how he was the most trusted lawyer in the early colony. 
He was a party to almost every public transaction, was one 
of the seven "pillars" of the church, was Clerk of the town 
for twenty-two years and magistrate after the departure of 
Disbrowe. He was chosen Deputy Governor of the New 
Haven Colony from 1658 to i66r. He was then chosen 
Governor and held that office until the union, in 1665, 
with the Connecticut Colony. 

In 1669 he was elected Deputy Governor of Connecticut, 
which office he held until 1676, when he was elected Gover- 
nor, and was reelected until his death in 1683, at the age of 
seventy. He was for forty years Magistrate, Deputy Gov- 
ernor and Governor of the Colony of New Haven, or of Con- 
necticut; and Dr. Trumbull, in his History of Connecticut, 
says: " He presided at times of the greatest difficulty, and 
conducted himself with integrity and wisdom so as to meet 
the public approbation." But he deserves a yet higher en- 
conium. He not only proved himself adequate to the duties 



227 

of every trying occasion, and filled faithfully every office con- 
ferred upon him, but he showed the even temper, the unerr- 
ing instinct, the foresight of the statesman, in positions the 
most responsible to which his town or the Colony of Connec- 
ticut could call him. Slow and cautious in coming to a 
decision, his conclusions were unerring; and few indeed are 
the judgments of Leete which the verdict of posterity has 
reversed. 

There is a series of letters, written to John Winthrop, Jr., 
and published in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, 
which reveal him as he was long supposed to be, not averse 
to the union of New Haven with Connecticut under the 
Charter. It will be remembered that the younger Winthrop, 
able, ambitious, of European education, admitted even by his 
critics to be the " brightest ornament of New England Puri- 
tanism," and at that time Governor of the Connecticut Col- 
ony, departed in 1661, on that famous mission to the English 
Court, the result of v/hich was an historic document, the 
Charter of Connecticut. This Charter was drawn so as to 
practically include New Haven within its jurisdiction; but 
until resistance was hopeless, this union was fought by 
Davenport, the New Haven leader, with all the masterful 
energy of his nature. Between Leete, then Governor of the 
New Haven Colony, and Winthrop there was similarity of 
political aims, and throughout their long careers, a cordial 
understanding. Leete, even in 1661, writes the latter: "I 
wish that you and wee could procure one Pattent to reach 
beyond Delawar, where we (i. e., New Haven Colony) have ex- 
pended 1000 pounds to procure Indian title, view, and begin 
to possesse." It is now clear that he with a few other New 
Haven men, saw the great advantage of a large united Colony 
over several petty ones, of the truly representative govern- 
ment proposed by Hooker and Winthrop over one based on 
church membership, and quietly threw his influence in favor 
of the union. Davenport in a letter to Winthrop, June 22, 
1663, condemned Leete's supposed indifference to New Ha- 
ven interests, but the people of that Colony reelected the 
latter Governor in the succeeding year, the last before the 
consummation of the union. 



228 

Presumably the most trying situations in Leete's life were 
previous to this date. In October, 1654, he writes a letter of 
extreme interest *to Samuel Disbrowe, then in England 
loaded with honors and close to the Protector Cromwell. It 
reveals a critical period of Guilford's history. Leete himself 
was revolving the propriety of removing the whole colony to 
Delaware, while Cromwell, consulted through Disbrowe and a 
Captain Astwood had suggested that they go to Hispaniola. 
There was little or no money, no sale for produce, and consid- 
erable dissatisfaction and anxiety prevailed. Leete, acting as 
agent for his friends who had returned to England, seems to 
have purchased the Disbrowe estate and found his debt a 
difficult one to cancel ; but throughout the letter he remains 
stanchly loyal to the colony and its best interests. He de- 
sires particularly that "three lawful ends be obtained, viz. : 
(i) Your estate returned; (2) I here settled; (3) the people 
here more satisfyed with me and their jealousy removed of 
your being an instrument of my removall from them." Dis- 
browe is owing a sum of money to Dudley, which Leete, as 
agent, is expected to pay, but Dudley declines "composition" 
(or settlement) with stock or corn, "he saith he had rather it 
should lye dead on your hands there than to have much more 
here as things stand." Leete then asks Disbrowe to obtain, 
through a brother of the former, the sale of the property in 
England belonging to Leete and in which, perhaps, this 
brother was interested. Then he adds in characteristic 
words : " I pray carry it with great and tender regard to my 
brother that he may be very free to what is done, for I would 
not lose an inch either of natural or Christian love and affec- 
tion for an Elle of profit or worldly accommodation." 

Not the least interesting feature of this letter is the sweetly, 
persuasive way in which he beseeches Disbrowe to write 
back to Guilford, to the people there, assuring them that he 
still loves them; that they "in an aptness to have harsh 
thoughts on almost all men that goe for England, as if they 
regard not Christs poore people here, having sought and 
obtained great things for themselves there, might learn to be 

*N. E. Hist, and Gen. Reg., 1887, 1 c. 



229 

more wise or more charitable for the future, when they see 
your enlarged love not only putting forth itselfe to help such 
as come to you into Old England, but also to seeke the uphold- 
ment and encouragement of them whom God requires to stay 
in New England." When the people showed jealousy, " in 
reference to the good-will you showed towards me," Leete had 
said to them, "I wished some mens eyes were not evill be- 
cause yours was good and doe professe they take the wrong 
course to settle me if they take up evill surmises or cast any 
aspersions upon you." * * * " And if you doe anything 
in order to my settlement here be pleased to expresse your- 
self as doeing it much respecting them therein." 

The incident of the Regicides shows him to be a man of 
great courage, prudence and genuine diplomacy in dealing 
with the agents of the King ; while through the possible dis- 
pleasure of the latter, he risked his own life in tacitly favor- 
ing the concealment and escape of the refugees. With the 
Rev. John Russel of Hadley, who concealed Goffe and Whal- 
ley in his house for many years, and with the Rev. John 
Davenport of New Haven, William Leete shares the honor 
of having saved them from the ignoble fate which overtook so 
many of their fellow-judges. 

Throughout his published correspondence and his long 
public career in the service of Guilford, New Haven and 
Connecticut, he manifests a wisdom that belongs to the best 
of statesmen ; and we are tempted to think that a wider 
sphere would have found Leete equal to its more complex 
demands. Toward the people, under circumstances the most 
trying, his temper of mind is a model of kindliness and 
judicious, fatherly care, while toward his friends, such as Dis- 
browe and Winthrop, he exhibited the affection of a truly 
noble nature. 

We may regret that the ashes of Governor Leete did not 
rest in Guilford ; but he died as Abraham Davenport, another 
honored citizen of the Connecticut Colony, wished to die and 
did die — "doing his duty." The cares of state during his 
governorship of Connecticut kept him continuously at Hart- 
ford. There he breathed his last, and there in the ancient 



230 

burial-ground in the rear of the First Church, lies buried 
that one of Guilford's founders, who more than any other 
gave permanency to the little republic whose origin we cele- 
brate to-day. 

It is not in a spirit of boastfulness that we rehearse the 
deeds of the fathers or recall to you the garnered honors of 
their early descendants. It is rather with the expectation 
that this rehearsal will find a quick response in the hearts of 
such as have not only inherited the blood, but the ac- 
cumulated conscience, the self-control and the aspirations of 
generations of self-denying men and women. 

It seems fitting therefore amid the pleasant reveries and 
reminiscences we indulge in, with the questions we put to the 
past on such a day as this, to put one question to ourselves; 
are we, the sons of these honorable men, prepared to act as 
promptly in relation to our country and our politics as they 
acted toward the great civil and political questions of their 
day, Whitfield and his company unhesitatingly put worldly 
possessions and personal danger second to liberty of con- 
science. Leete perceived the inequalities and dangers in- 
herent in the New Haven system of franchise, and the weak- 
ness of an isolated Colony. True to his convictions, and the 
national instinct strong within him, free from jealousy and 
fear concerning his own leadership, with a breadth of intelli- 
gence worthy of high praise, he quietly espoused the system 
— not of his original choice — whose subsequent endurance 
and success vindicated his sagacity and patriotism. What 
evidence have we that later generations are capable of as 
large a measure of self-sacrifice, loyalty, sincerity and public 
spirit as the earlier; and in these times of place-hunting, 
money-getting and personal ambition, are as ready to take 
like steps in regard to abuses growing fast around franchise, 
public of^ce and private enterprise .-• 

Yonder simple monument, commemorating Guilford's citi- 
zen soldiery dead in the war for national union, shows that the 
past generation, our fathers and our brothers, xvcrc prepared 
for the supremest moral effort of our century ; and it is a fit- 
ting coincidence that this memorial, on your peaceful Green, 



231 

is linked with all that is mortal of Guilford's founders, the 
sires of these soldiers and their exemplars on the world's 
field of duty. 

Sights and sounds so familiar in '6i still recur in our page- 
ants of to-day. The beat of regimental drum, the wail of 
martial fife along our streets, the fast thinning ranks of vet- 
erans, admonish us again of them 

" Whose faith and truth, ■ 
On war's red touchstone rang true metal, 

Who ventured life, and love, and youth. 
For the great prize of death in battle; 

Of them who, deadly hurt, again 
Flashed on before the charge's thunder, 

Tipping with fire the bolt of men, 
That rived the rebel line asunder." 

But with the nobler impulse these things bring, every gen- 
erous heart will remember that, as the men who were fought 
and overcome, have become the loyal citizens of a reunited 
nation, so the evils fought have passed away ; will feel itself 
quickly stirred against other evils which have arisen in their 
place ; will gird itself as best it may, against those tremen- 
dous ones, perhaps industrial, perhaps political, perhaps social, 
which already cast their shadows before. 

" New occasions teach new duties! " 

To perform these "duties" will require not only all the bet- 
ter qualities inherent in our modern life, but the civil and 
political virtues we believe our fathers had ; not only training 
and habits of mental independence, but a distinct moral atti- 
tude toward all public questions. To meet these "new occa- 
sions" we propose: The memory of the founders of Guilford 
and the spirit of their sons, her citizen soldiery. 



Hon. Charles J. Hoadley, State Librarian, who has taken an interest in 
the celebration and rendered valuable assistance in several ways, calls at- 
tention to the fact that Dr. Rossiter made the first post ijiortem, that is a 
matter of record in Connecticut. It was made in Hartford by Dr. Rossiter, 
who went up for the purpose and was to ascertain whether the deceased 
had been bewitched. On Page 396, Vol. i. Colonial Records, we find that: 

"At a Gen". Assembly held at Hartford, March 11, i6|f 

This Court allowes unto Mr. Rosseter Twenty pounds in reference to 
openinge Keilies child and his paynes to visit the Dep-Governo'', and his 
paynes in visiting and administring to Mr. Talcot." 

Mr. Hoadley writes: 

" There was formerly a doubt whether opening Keilies child was a post 
mortem examination or something else, but last winter I saw the orii^lnal 
report of the autopsy by Rossiter. The body was opened at the grave, and 
R. describes the condition of the organs and notices the absence of the 
rigor mortis." 




DISTINGUISHED NATIVES OF GUILFORD. 



JOHN E. TODD, D. D. 



[Rev. Dr. John E. Todd is a descendant of Timothy Todd (1747) and 
John Collins (1669).] 



I hardly know why I have been selected to prepare a paper 
on " Distinguished Natives of Guilford," unless it be that 
Guilford men all consider themselves distinguished and are 
too modest to write about themselves, whereas I, having about 
as little connection with Guilford as I have of modesty, have 
not the same embarrassments. 

In the year 1732 my great-grandfather's brother, Jonathan 
Todd, graduated from Yale College. His diploma, which I 
hold in my hand, is probably one of the oldest Yale diplomas 
now in existence. In the following year he was settled as the 
pastor of the church in East Guilford. This office he contin- 
ued to hold for fifty years, until his death. Meantime his 
younger brother Timothy, my great-grandfather, having 
graduated from Yale College in 1747, followed him to East 
Guilford, not, like him, to pray for the people of Guilford but, 
as a merchant, to prey on them. The pastor had no children; 
but the merchant had many, and there have been, and are, 
many descendants of his, some of them now residing within 
the ancient limits of Guilford, and all of them, of course, 
"distinguished." Unfortunately, however, my grandfather, 
having established a. reputation for being a brilliant but 
somewhat eccentric genius, and having married a beauty and 
belle of East Guilford (they are all beauties and belles over 
there), and having obtained a smattering of medical education 



234 

in the office of his elder brother, the " distinguished " Dr. 
Jonathan Todd of East Guilford, finding the Guilford people 
too healthy, or else too well supplied with licensed execution- 
ers, emigrated to Vermont, or the New Hampshire Grants, as 
the state was then called, and did not return till toward the 
close of his life. Of his children, all of them born in Ver- 
mont, only one settled in Guilford. It will be seen, therefore, 
that my claim to be of Guilford origin is of the most shadowy 
kind, and that, therefore, my ability to speak with impartiality 
of other "distinguished" men of Guilford is not to be ques- 
tioned, especially as I am under bonds to confine myself to 
the mention of natives. 

Circumstances have much to do with the development of 
talents and -character and the acquiring of reputation. Great 
men largely owe their greatness and distinction to the circum- 
stances which have given occasion and scope for the exercise 
of their talents. Doubtless their have been many as great, 
if not greater, who have remained in obscurity, simply 
because there was no arena for them. No doubt many, if not 
all, of the Guilford people would have rendered themselves 
"distinguished" in circumstances favorable for it. Fortu- 
nately for me, however, and for your patience at this time, 
while multitudes of them have made themselves respected and 
honored, there are not so many who have achieved more than 
a local reputation. Of those who have won for themselves 
wide distinction, some, like Halleck and Flill, the poets, and 
Dr. Jared Elliott, the preacher, scholar, author and scientist, 
have already been spoken of in special papers. Of a few 
more eminent of the others it has been devolved upoH me to 
speak. In the time to which I am limited I can do little more 
than merely make mention of them. 

One of the most distinguished natives of Guilford was Dr. 
Samuel Johnson, who was born in the central part of the 
town, October 14, 1696. His first ancestor in this country 
had come from Kingston on Hull in 1637. He graduated 
from Yale College in 1714J served as tutor in the college 
from 1 7 16 to 1 7 19, and was then settled as pastor of the 
church in West Haven. Soon afterward, largely through the 



235 

influence of a clerical friend in Stratford, his views became 
changed, and he felt himself drawn toward the Church of 
England. He resigned his charge, and, in company with 
Timothy Cutler, the president of Yale College, and Tutor 
Brown, who had experienced the same change of views, sailed 
for England, with the common purpose of seeking ordination 
at the hands of an English bishop. He returned with an ap- 
pointment as a kind of missionary to Stratford, where he 
built up a flourishing Episcopal Church, performed the func- 
tions of a priest, and maintained lively theological controver- 
sies for many years. But as his flock was too small to give 
him sufficient support, he established a school, and engaged 
in the work of education, for which his tastes and talents and 
attainments eminently fitted him. It is on his work as an 
educator that his fame chiefly rests. A great scholar him- 
self, he maintained constant correspondence with other emi- 
nent scholars. It was at his suggestion that Bishop Berkeley 
directed his attention and made his gifts to Yale College. 
He had Benjamin Franklin for one of his friends and ad- 
mirers ; and Franklin republished a system of morals which 
he had constructed. In 1754 Dr. Johnson assumed the care 
of Kings College, or Columbia College as it is now called, 
which had then just been organized. He served as its first 
president for nine years. Under his administration the insti- 
tution passed safely through the first troubles and dangers of 
such an enterprise, received considerable endowments, be- 
came firmly established, and received the impression and 
direction and impulse which have made it what it is. Wearied 
at last with his work, he resigned the office of president to 
others, of whom his own son eventually became one, and re- 
tired to his old home in Stratford. In the following year he 
was re-appointed to his old pastoral charge; and he continued 
to hold it till his death, January 6, 1772, at the ripe age of 75, 
Dr. Johnson's name has been somewhat overshadowed by 
that of his more illustrious son. Dr. William Samuel Johnson, 
the jurist and statesman. But it has a great worth and dig- 
nity of its own, — not to mention the fact that what his son 
became was largely due to him. His scholarship and learn- 



236 

ing were abundantly recognized by the highest authorities ; 
the universities both of Cambridge and Oxford conferred 
upon him the honorary degree of A. M., and the University 
of Oxford gave him the degree of D. D. The influence of 
such an educator upon the minds and character of men is 
beyond all computation. 

North Guilford, too, has contributed to the cause of educa- 
tion, and furnished a college president, who was even more 
of a statesman, in the person of Abraham Baldwin, who was 
born November 6, 1754. He graduated from Yale College in 
1772 ; served as tutor in that college for four years; then as a 
chaplain in the United States army for several years, and 
finally, in 1784, at the age of about 30, settled in Savannah, 
Ga. Here, partly through the influence of his friend, Gen- 
eral Greene, he was quickly admitted to the bar, and elected 
to the Legislature. At last he had found the proper field for 
the exercise of his talents. He was elected, in the following 
year, a member to the Continental Congress, and served for 
three years. In 1787 he was elected a member of the Con- 
vention which constructed the Constitution of the United 
States. Under this constitution he served as a representative 
of Georgia in the national House of Representatives for ten 
years, from 1789 to 1799. ^^^ ^^^ then elected one of the 
two senators from Georgia. And this position in the Senate 
of the United States he continued to hold until his death, at 
Washington, at the comparatively early age of 52. While he 
was in the Georgia Legislature he conceived the plan of the 
University of Georgia and obtained a charter for it, and was 
a leading spirit in its organization. Afterward he was for 
some years its president. In the Constitutional Convention 
of 1787 he cast an important vote, making a tie which led to 
a compromise, the result of which was the formation of the 
United States Senate. In Congress he was one of those 
who voted to place the Capital on the Potomac. Throughout 
his legislative and senatorial career he was consistent, liberal, 
dignified, and patriotic. He was held in high honor and 
trust. Baldwin County was named for him. 

If East Guilford has not furnished a college president it has 



237 

at least shown that a man can be great without a college edu- 
cation. Thomas Chittenden was born here January 6, 1730. 
At the age of about 20 he removed to Salisbury, where he 
remained nearly a quarter of a century, cultivating a farm and 
raising and supporting his family. Here he exhibited- such 
abilities and character that for most of the time he was made 
a magistrate and was often sent to represent his town in 
the legislature. 

In 1774 he emigrated to the New Hampshire Grants and 
settled on Onion River. During the troubles of the Revolution 
and the long contest between New York and New Hampshire 
for the sovereignty of the Grants he was more than once 
obliged to move from one place to another, with much de- 
struction of property. The unsettled times brought strong 
and resolute men to the front, and Chittenden took his place 
with the Aliens and other determined spirits who became the 
leaders of the people. He was a member of the convention 
which, on January 16, 1777, declared Vermont an independent 
and sovereign state, and of the convention which met in July 
of the same year to draft a constitution for the new state. 
He was elected president of the Committee of Safety, which 
first conducted the government in those unsettled times. On 
the adoption of the constitution he was elected the first gov- 
ernor of the state in 1778, and, with the exception of a 
single year, he continued to hold the office, by continual re- 
election, till his death in 1797, nineteen years later. It was 
largely due to his influence and management that the contro- 
versies between New York and New Hampshire were at last 
amicably settled, and Vermont was in 1790 admitted into the 
union. At times during these controversies feeling ran high, 
the country was in a troubled and critical condition, and only 
the greatest tact and skill could have prevented bloodshed. 
The British government tried to avail itself of the contro- 
versy to persuade Vermont to desert the rest of the country 
and put itself under its protection, but the Green Mountain 
boys, while cunning enough to make good use of every imple- 
ment put into her hands, were staunch and incorruptible 
patriots. Governor Chittenden was deprived of all advan- 



238 

tages of education, save those of the ordinary district school 
of those days, and always professed great contempt for book 
learning ; but he was well acquainted^ with men, and had a 
large practical education, acquired by experience and study in 
the great school of the world. He had also native shrewd- 
ness and a vast amount of common sense. He seemed to 
leap at once to correct conclusions, without going through the 
ordinary processes of reasoning ; seeing things, as it were, 
by intuition. He was an adept at reading men's characters 
and motives and was seldom deceived in his estimates of 
them. He was remarkable for the quickness and accuracy 
with which he read men's minds. He had a good deal of the 
tact and many of the arts of the politician. He could say a 
great deal without saying much, like some other Vermont 
statesmen. He could smoothe over things beautifully, when 
he wished to. On one occasion a certain man had been 
appointed to some office against his opposition. Meeting 
one of his opponents not long afterward, he remarked good- 
naturedly : " So A. has been appointed. Well, I really 
believe that he will make a better officer than I think he will." 
Governor Chittenden impressed those around him as a man 
of decided character, strong will and entire readiness to 
assume responsibility and exercise authority, in a case of 
emergency, without much regard to red tape or mere forms. 
In 1794 the celebrated Samuel Peters, D. D., famous for his 
History of Connecticut and entertaining fictions respecting 
the " Blue Laws " of this state, was elected bishop of Ver- 
mont, and a fruitless eftbrt was made to get him consecrated 
in England, where he had resided for twenty years. The 
agent of the Vermont Episcopal Convention finally told the 
archbishop of Canterbury that if he persisted in his refusal 
the convention would probably choose some man who would 
be content with a consecration by the governor. Upon this, 
Peters, perhaps making a bid for the opportunity, wrote that 
"as Governor Chittenden is Chief Magistrate by the voice of 
the people, to whom God gave his power to elect Saul and 
David, no doubt but his excellency can make highpriests and 
bishops, as well as Saul and David and the kings of Sweden 



239 

and Denmark and England, for Vermont." There is little 
room for doubt that, if there had been pressing occasion for 
it, Governor Chittenden would have consecrated a bishop as 
expeditiously and with as little hesitation as he was wont to 
commission a justice, but I doubt whether he was the man 
to consecrate such a fellow as Peters. Chittenden County 
was named in honor of the governor; and one of his sons, at 
a later day, twice occupied his chair of state, but the chip 
was not so large as the block. 

His name has been rendered distinguished by another per- 
son. Simeon B. Chittenden was born in Guilford, March 9, 
1 8 14. He came to be well known through the country as 
one of the successful, benevolent, and patriotic merchant- 
princes of New York. His gifts to various institutions and 
charitable enterprises have been unstinted and munificent ; 
and in these his native town has liberally shared. The new 
library building now in process of erection on the Yale 
Campus will be a lasting monument to his liberality and in- 
telligent foresight. 

Guilford has produced several ministers of note. Not to 
dwell upon the work and person of Dr. Jared Elliott of Kill- 
ingworth, I must mention the name of Dr. Bela Hubbard, 
who was born August 27, 1739, and died at New Haven, 
December 6, 1812. He graduated from Yale College in 
1758; five years later went to England to take orders in the 
Church of England ; served as rector in Guilford and Kill- 
ingworth for several years; then as a missionary to New 
Haven, (we are always in need of missionaries in New Haven) 
in the employ of the English Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in Foreign Parts; finally, for five years, as rector 
of Trinity Church in New Haven. He was an ardent tory, 
but so discreet, as to avoid giving offense. He greatly en- 
deared himself to the people of New Haven by remaining at 
his post during an epidemic of yellow fever in 1795. He 
received the degree of D. D. from Yale in 1804. His son 
Thomas became a noted New York statesman ; his grandson 
Bela, a distinguished geologist. 

Rev. Andrew Fowler was born in 1765, and died in 



240 

Charleston, S. C, in 1851. He graduated from Yale College 
in 1783; became an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, 
and served as rector in several places in New York, New Jer- 
sey, and South Carolina. The last years of his useful and 
honored life were devoted to missionary work in South Caro- 
lina. He enjoyed the singular distinction of presenting to 
the bishop the first class for confirmation that was ever 
gathered in the diocese of South Carolina. 

Dr. David Dudley Field was born in East Guilford, May 
20, 1 77 1. His father, Timothy Field, had been a. captain in 
the Revolutionary army. He was fitted for college, together 
with Jeremiah Evarts, by Dr. John Elliott, the East Guilford 
pastor; graduated from Yale College in 1802; studied the- 
ology under Rev. Charles Backus ; married Miss Submit 
Dickinson ; was settled first in Haddam, then for eighteen 
years in Stockbridge, Mass., then in Haddam again, and Hig- 
ganum, and finally retired to Stockbridge, where he died in 
1867. He was an able man, highly honored for his character 
and talents. He was also quite an author, being particularly 
interested in historical researches, and at one time Vice- 
President of the Connecticut Historical Society. He re- 
ceived the degree of D. D. from Williams College in 1837, 
Distinguished in himself, he is perhaps even more dis- 
tinguished as the father of an illustrious family, — David Dud- 
ley, Stephen, Cyrus West, Henry Martyn, men of national 
reputation. 

I must not neglect to mention Rev. Samuel W. S. Dutton, 
for a long time the delightfully genial pastor of the North 
Church in New Haven, who graduated from Yale College in 
1833, and received the honorary degree of D. D. from Bruns- 
wick College in 1856. His death, a few years ago, at too 
early an age, brought grief to a multitude of hearts. His 
name is still among us, " as ointment poured forth." 

The name of Abraham Bradley occurs to me. He rose to 
the position of a Deputy Post Master General, and therefore, 
even though his poetry may not be remarkable except for its 
loyalty to his native town, he must certainly be regarded as 
a Jiian of letters. 



241 

The name of General Augustus Collins presents itself. 
He served in the army of the Revolution ; was intimately 
connected with the public affairs of our state ; was actively 
employed as a magistrate most of his life, and served in sixty- 
four consecutive sessions of the Legislature, a fact which 
needs the explanation that in his time the great and general 
court met twice a year. 

The name of Dr. Stephen C. Bartlett suggests itself. He 
was born in North Guilford April 19, 1839; received an excel- 
lent medical education at Yale College and in several United 
States military hospitals and in the naval service; practised 
for some years at Naugatuck, thence removed to Waterbury, 
where he died at the early age of 40, but not before he had 
become eminent in his profession. His restoration, by means 
of skin grafting, of a scalp which had been torn off by 
machinery, is said to have been the first operation of the 
kind, of such a magnitude, ever performed in this country. 

"And what shall I more say.?" I have spoken of Abraham 
and Samuel and David, but " the time would fail me to tell of 
Gideon and Barak and Samson " and the rest of the " proph- 
ets," who, if they did not "obtain kingdoms," "wrought 
righteousness," and some of them " waxed valiant in fight and 
put to flight the armies of the aliens." But I dare not close — 
I should not dare to come down from this pulpit — without 
some mention of the " distinguished " ivodicu of Guilford. It 
is to be supposed that most of the distinguished men became 
so through the influence of their wives. Or, if that is stating 
the case too strongly, it may, at least, be confidently affirmed 
that most of the men of Guilford would never have been what 
they have been if it had not been for their mothers. 

Miss Ruth Baldwin, a half sister of Senator Baldwin, who 
has been mentioned, married Joel Barlow, the poet, states- 
man and minister to France, and with her sister, lent grace 
to his mission. I noticed that one of the speakers revived 
the tradition that Mrs. Barlow spent three months in study- 
ing grace, so that she might appear well at the court of 
France. I doubt whether there is any man who has been here 
for half a day, and most of us have been here two or three 



242 

days at least, who believes that any Guilford girl ever had to 
study three months to acquire grace. 

Miss Lorain Collins, a sister of the General Augustus Col- 
lins who has been mentioned, married Oliver Wolcott, who 
became governor of this state, one of the signers of the 
Declaration ot Independence and first secretary of state under 
President Washington, and shared and helped him to win 
his honors. 

Miss Mary Button, a sister of Rev. Samuel W. S. Button 
who has been mentioned, was for many years the successful 
principal of the young ladies' seminary, known as Grove 
Hall, in New Haven — an institution which, when I was in 
Yale College, was considerably more interesting and import- 
ant to us students than the college was. 

Last to be mentioned, but among the foremost of those 
who have reflected honor upon their native town, comes the 
name of Miss Harriet Ward Foote, later the wife of our 
honored Senator Hawley. She was a daughter of George 
Foote, and a granddaughter of General Andrew Ward, who 
was in the Revolutionary army and rendered substantial ser- 
vice at Valley Forge. She was also a first cousin of the older 
children of Rev. Br. Lyman Beecher. She was born June 
25, 1831 ; was married Becember 25. 1855, and died at 
Washington March 3, 1866. She was a woman of fine 
talents and culture, large heart, and uncommon executive 
' ability; became her husband's secretary and confidential ad- 
viser, went with him to the war, and while he was in the field 
devoted herself to arduous hospital work at Washington, and 
at Beaufort, Fernandina, Hilton Head, and Wilmington, N. 
C, everywhere taking the lead. Her exhausting labors broke 
down her health and shortened her life. In the later years 
of her residence at the Capital, she was the President of the 
Washington Branch of the Indian Rights Association, — a 
position now held by her sister, Miss Kate Foote. She pre- 
ferred to devote herself to unostentatious benevolent work 
rather than to society, in which she was well qualified to 
shine. No good work failed to enlist her sympathy and help. 
She had unusual literary gifts, but wrote for the most part 



243 

anonymously. Her death called forth remarkable expressions 
of respect and affection, especially from the veteran soldiers 
of the Republic. The Grand Army posts at Washington 
sent a wreath of flowers for her casket, members of the 
Union League Club escorted it across New York City, two 
posts attended the funeral at Hartford, and the Seventh Con- 
necticut Regiment of veterans, which her husband had 
formerly commanded, sent a mass of flowers to adorn her 
coffin, which was appropriately draped with United States 
flags, in token of her having become a daughter of the army, 
and of the country. It has been suggested that her name be 
placed on yonder soldiers' monument, encircled with the oak 
wreath with which the ancient Romans were wont to honor 
one who had saved the life of a citizen, and it is to be hoped 
that the suggestion will speedily be carried into effect. 

I am admonished that I must not detain you longer among 
these footsteps of the living and sacred urns of the dead. 
There are many other names which are deserving of honor- 
able mention, quite as much so as some of those which I have 
recalled ; but I must pass them by in silence. They will not, 
however, on that account be forgotten. They will live in 
history, in local traditions, among household words, and in the 
tender recollections of loving hearts. Their memory and 
influence, fortunately, do not depend upon mention in this 
slight sketch. Men's own deeds, and not the pens of histor- 
ians, are what give them immortality. Let us endeavor to be 
worthy of the great and noble and good who have gone before 
us, and so to serve our fellow-men, our country, and our God, 
that, long after we are gone, our names shall linger like music, 
our influence like perfume, where we have lived, and some- 
thing shall have been added to by us, however slight, to the 
undying glory of New England and her ancient towns. 



HISTORIC SITES MARKED AT THE QUARTO- 
MILLENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



ORIGINAL PLANTERS AND THEIR HOUSES, AS 
NEARLY AS CAN BE ASCERTAINED. 



\ 



George Chatfield, 
Rev. Henry Whitfield, 
Jasper Stillvvell, 
Thomas Chatfield, 
Thomas Relf, 
William Plaine, 
Thomas Belts, 
John Sheather, 
Mr. John Jordan, 
John Stone, 
Rev. John Higginson, 
Samuel Desbrough, 
Richard Hues, 
Francis Chatfield, 
Dea. George Bartlett, 
Henry Goldham, 
Thomas French, 
Edward Benton, 
Mr. John Hoadley, 
Mr. Jacob Sheafe, 
Mr. William Chittenden, 
Gov. William Leete, 
Robert Kitchel, , 

\jFrancis Bushnell, Jr., 
Mr. John Caffinch, 
Francis Bushnell, Sr.,'' 
William Dudley, 
John Stevens, 
Thomas Cook, 
William Stone, 
William Barnes, 
Mr. Abraham Crittenden, 



-J 



Capt. James Frisbie, 

" The Stone House," 

Miss Kate Hunt, 

J. Meigs Hand, 

Mrs. Knowles, 

George S. Davis, 

J. S. Elliott, 

William Kelsey, 

Elisha Hart, 

Dr. Alvan Talcott, 

Lewis Elliott, 

Capt. William C. Dudley, 

James Dudley, 

Frog Pond Cottage, 

Hotel, 

William Isbell, 

H. W. Chittenden, 

Miss Lydia D. Chittenden, 

Edwin Griswold, 

John Hubbard, 

S. B. Chittenden, 

William L. Stone, 

Mrs. Hannah Brown, 

George Spencer, 

Edwin Leete, 

Dr. G. P. Reynolds, 

Benjamin West, 

Dea. Albert Dowd, 

Douglas Loper, 

Charles Stone, 

Guilford Institute, 

Capt. T3-ler, 



245 



Thomas Jordan, 
John Parnielee, 
John Mepham, 
Henry Doude, 
Thomas Norton, 
Wiliam Hall, 
Henry Kingsnorth, 
Richard Guttridge, 
Benjamin Wright, 
William Love, 
William Boreman, 
John Parmelee, Jr., 
John Scranton, 
Alexander Chalker, 
Stephen Bradle}^ 
Thomas Jones, 
John Bishop, 



Miss Clara Sage, 
First Church, 
Mrs. Monroe, 
John Benton, 
Partridge House, 
Hinckley House, 
Grace Starr, 
Charles Leete, 
Capt. R. L. Fowler, 
Miss Harriet Hall, 
Mrs. Augustus Hall, 
William Benton, 
L. L. Rovvland, 
John Benton, 
Henry Chamberlain, 
Mrs. L. H. Steiner, 
Mrs. T. H. Landon. 



OTHER SITES MARKED. 

First Meeting House, 1643 — North end of Green. 

Second Meeting House, 1712 — North end of Green. 

Academy — West side of Green. 

First Episcopal Church, 1747 — South end of Green. 

Old Town House, I775 — Church Street. 

First Sabbath Day Houses — Mrs. Franklin C. Phelps. 

Site of Fourth Church, 1730— Edward Griswold. 

Residence of Fitz-Greene Halleck — Hotel. 

Residence of George Hill, 1796 — Misses Belts. 

Birthplace of Rev. Samuel Johnson, D. D., first President of Columbia 

College, 1696 — George Spencer. 
Residence of Bryan Rossiter, first Physician in Connecticut, 1651 — Capt. 

William C. Dudley. 
Residence of Rev. Lyman Beecher, 1795 — First Church. 

(The clock in this church, made 1726, is the oldest in New England.) 
Residence of Gen. Andrew Ward, 1776 — Mrs. L. H. Steiner. 
First Tavern in Guilford, 1645 — Charles Stone. 
Birthplace of Fitz-Greene Halleck, 1790 — Henry Hale. 
Rev. Joseph Eliot's Residence, 1664 — Lewis R. Elliott. 
Petticoat Lane — Fair Street. 
Crooked Lane — State Street. 
South Lane — Whitfield Street. 
Disbrow's Lane — Water Street. 
Mill Lane— York Street. 



246 
OLD HOUSES. 



The following is a list of all houses known to be 100 years 
old now standing in either Guilford or Madison. Those in 
the Borough of Guilford were marked at the celebration. 

GUILFORD. 

r.OROlK'.U. 

Whitfield Street— Mrs. S.irah B. Cone (Wnitficld House), - - 1639 

John S. Elliott (Old Graves House), - - - 17S3 

Lewis R. Elliott, -.-... 1755 

Lewis R. Elliott (Corner House), - - . - 1726 

William S. Kelsey (Hooker Bartlett Place). - - - 178.4 

George C. Kimberly, . . . . . 1750 

Mrs. Knowles, ■ - - - - - - - 177S 

Samuel Weld, ...... 1758 

Darwin N. Benton (Hotel), . . . . . 1786 

L. Harting (Capt. Joel Griffing Place), . . . I749 

Mrs. William Isbell (Woodward House), - - - 1774 

Dr. William Reynolds (H. W. Chittenden House), - 17S1 

Mrs. Fannie Baylies (Amos Seward House), - - - 1766 

Broad Street — Leverett C. Stone (Timothy Stone House), - 1749 

Leverett C. Stone (Reuben Stone House), . . - 1769 

John Hubbard, .-...- 1717 

Miss Clara Sage (Old Tuttle House), - - - - 1781 

Miss Mary Smith (Taber Smith House), - - - 1759 

George Spencer (Faulkner House), - - - - 1774 

Fair Street — Benjamin West (Russell Frisbie House), - - I74<> 

George B. Si)encer (Joel Fowler Place), ... 1760 

George W. Davis, ...... 1759 

George M. Seward, ...... 1759 

Mrs. Mary Galvin, ...... 1766 

A. B. Palmer (Benton House), ..... 1766 

Mrs, Gilbert Richardson, ..... 1766 

Edward M. Leete (Stewart Frisbie Place), - - . 1789 

Mrs. Daniel Hubbard, ..... 1761 

Charles Stone, ....... 1766 

Edward Long, (Major Johnson House), ... 1746 

York Street — Henry P. Robinson, ..... 1752 

Miss Clarissa Chittenden, ..... 1750 

Mrs. Jared Parker (Cruttenden House), ... 1752 

William N. Norton (Shelley House), ... 1775 

William Spencer, ...... 1752 

Harvey W. Leete (Morris Leete House), ... 1760 



247 

West Side — Henry D. Chittenden, .... - 1739 

State Street —Henry Chamberlain, ----- 1735 

Samuel Dolph, ------- 1784 

William Weld ---... 1759 

John Benton (Anne Kiinberley House), ... 1740 

Mrs. Edward R. Benton, . - - . . 1775 

L. L. Rowland (Henry Scranton House), - . - 1780 

William A. Benton (Seymour Benton House), - - 1736 

Charles F. Leete (Grace Starr House), - - . 16S7 

Mrs. George M. Bartholomew (Abraham Fowler House), - 1777 

Miss Lizzie Hall (Titus Hall House, built by James Hall), - 1696 

John Starr, ------- 1764 

Philo Bishop, ------- 1671 

, Henr)' Starr, .--.--- 1770 

Union Street — Abraham Kimberly, . - - - - 1732 

Milo Cook (Collins Place), . - - - - 1700 

Park Street — Mrs. Thomas H. Landon, - - - - 1780 

Mrs. Beverly Monroe (Charles Fowler House), - - 1735 

Daniel P. Augur, ------ 1750 

Boston Street — Hiram Thomas (Erastus Page House), - - 1783 

Alpha Morse (Old Burgis Place), - - . . 1742 

John Yale (John Burgis Place), - - - - 1786 

W. W. Bartholomew (George Griswold Place), - - 1774 

Charles Lathrop (Clara Caldwell House), - - - 1760 

Mrs. Walter P. Munger (Jason Seward House), - - 1769 

J. Tuttle Wildman, -----. 1720 

"\^^^^ Mrs. William Holcombe (Whedon House), - . - 1763 

Mrs. Samuel Landon, - - . . . 1730 

Misses Betts (Hill Place), ----- 1744 

George S. Davis (William Griffing House), - - 1743 

Water Street — Daniel Sullivan, . . - . . 177S 

Mrs. G. P. Reynolds (Xettleton House), - - - 1748 

Darwin N. Benton, ---... 1735 

Mrs. Mack, .----.. 1765 

Deacon Leverett Griswold, - - . . - 1730 

MOOSE HILL. 

Mrs. Alvah G. Brewer, ------ 1752 

Richard T. Kelsey, ------- 1760 

Wallace G. Fowler, ....... 1765 

Frederick E. Norton, -.-.-.. 1725 

WEST SIDE. 

Henry R. Spencer, -.-.--. 1700 

William N. Norton, ....... 1776 

William N. Norton, ...... 1760 

Mrs. Virgil S. Hotchkiss, .-.-.. 1765 



248 



Henry Fowler, 



1748 



S. L. Darrow, 
James E. Lee, 



LONG HILL. 



1735 
1749 



E. Walter Leete, 
Mrs. James M. Hunt, 



LEETE S ISLAND. 



1770 
1740 



NUT PLAINS. 



Albert H. Phelps, 
Nathaniel Evarts' Heirs, 
Joseph Wyatt 
U. N. Parmelee's Heirs, 
Mrs. William Griswold, 
Joseph A. Evarts, 
James D. Hall, - 
Dr. N. Gregory Hall, 
Deacon Edwin O. Davis, 
E. Roger Davis, 



1748 
1756 
1736 
1750 
1745 
173S 
1740 
1740 
1746 
1750 



Mrs. George A. Foote, 



MULBERRY. 



1723 



SACHEM S HEAD. 



Samuel P. Barker, 



1730 



OLD HOUSES IN MADISON. 



HAMMONASSETT DISTRICT. 

James H. Bradley, (Nathan Bradley House), 
Dr. Reynold Webb (Built by Daniel Meigs), 
Edward Hand (The Hand Homestead), 
George Willard, (Elizur Willard House), 
Thomas Pendelow (Ebenezer Dowd House), 



1680 
1750 
1764 
1764 
1788 



BOSTON STREET DISTRICT. 



William F. Bradley, - . - - 

Mrs. P. A. Scranton (Captain GrilTm House), 
J. W. Tucker (Built by a Blatchley), - 



1770 

1759 
1760 



249 

C. S. Bushnell (Ellis House), . . - - - 1739 

P. C. Vogel (Joseph Hand House), ----- 1730 

William H. Petrie, ------- 1780 

Charles M. Miner (Wilcox Tavern), ----- 1785 

Daniel Hand (Dea. Meigs House), . - - - 1740 

E. J. Bishop (Old Meigs House), ----- 1690 

Lafayette spent a night here during the Revohition. 

John Griswold, ------- 1780 

CENTER DISTRICT. 

Capt. S. S. Meigs (Built by Dea. John French), - - - 1675 

Mrs. Mary G. Redfield (Built by Dea. John Graves), - - 16S0 

George A. Wilcox (Dudley House), ----- 1740 

Joseph S. Scranton, ------ 1750 

Henry B. Wilcox, ------- 1788 

Talcott Bradley House, ------ 1760 

Rev. Dr. Elliott House, ------ 1789 

NECK DISTRTCT. 

Seth Stone House, ------- 1769 

Mrs. Lucinda Smith (Built by Geoffrey Smith), - - - 1777 

Romeo E. Bassett (in family for six generations of Bassetts), - 1680 

S. S. Shelley (Built by John Stone), ----- 1730 

Miss Jane Shelley (Built by John Shelley), - - . 1760 

James Harrison (House built by Jesse Munger), - - - 1772 

H. P. Coolidge (Built by Thomas Wilcox), - - - 1742 

John H. Meigs (Built by Jonathan, son of Thomas Wilcox), - 1770 

Capt. Frederic Lee, ----- about 1787 

Miss Lucy Scranton, ------- 1764 

George M. Crampton. ------ 1789 

Miss Susan Smith, ------ about 1745 

Mrs. Laura Bassett, - - - - - - " 1748 

Mrs. Levi Dingwell, ------- 1762 

Sylvanus Shelley House, ----- about 1775 

Julian Watrous, ------- 1770 

EAST RIVER DISTRICT. 

Lawrence Knowles (Abraham Cruttenden House), - - I735 

Mrs. George Fowler (Built by Reuben Fowler), - - . 1760 

George Munger, ------ about 1760 

NORTH WEST DISTRICT. 

George W. Munger, ------- 1780 

Charles N. Appleby (Built b)' David Grave), - - - 1760 



250 

WOODS DISTRICT. 

J. F. Leete (Return Jonathan Wilcox House), . . . i68o 

Leander Griswold (Birth-place of Daniel Hand), - - 1739 

Rev. Mr. Mosman (David Field House), - - , - - 1720 

Birth-place of D. D. Field, D. D. 

William H. Dowd, ------- 1740 

J. Benjamin Griffith, ------- 1735 

UNION DISTRICT. 

James Kane (Norton House), . . . . . 1715 

Richard S. Meigs, ....-.- 1740 

Amos Bishop House, ...... 1750 

Frederic F. Bailej% ....... 1745 



NORTH MADISON. 

Daniel Hill, .-.----- 1750 

Mrs. Julia Parker, ....--- 1738 

Mrs. Alpha Dowd, ------- 1780 

Morris Jones, - - - - - - - -I735 

Henry A. Searing, ------- 1730 

Truman Johnson House, - - - " - - - I755 

Charles H. Parker, .------ 1779 

Greeley H. White, ..----- 1785 

Nelson R. Taylor, ------- 1689 

Asa Stevens, -------- 1759 

James Stevens, ..-.--- I740 

Edward L. Stevens, ....... 1720 

John Cunningham, .------ 1769 

Alfred B. Scranton, ------- 1739 

Mrs. Loren Stevens, .-.--. i749 

In commemorating the Founders of the Town, a few old 
inscriptions from their tombstones will be of interest. As is 
well known, the first cemetery occupied the central and lower 
portions of the Guilford Green, but early in the present cen- 
tury the stones were removed and all traces of the graves 
obliterated. The inscriptions on the stones in Guilford of an 
earlier date than 1800, have been published by the New 
Haven County Historical Society. 

The oldest cemetery now in use within the limits of the 
original town is the one in the eastern part of Madison, known 



251 

as the Hamnionassett Cemetery. The oldest stones here, 
bearing only initials and the year cut on rough slabs from the 
fields, run back to 167 — . A tradition in the Meigs family 
runs, that Vincent Meigs, who died in 1658, was the first per- 
son interred in this cemetery. A prominent man in the early 
days was Janna Meigs. A brown sandstone to his memory 
is inscribed as follows : 

Here lies Interr'^ the 

Body of JANNA MEIGS 

Esqr who Dec'' June 

the 5th I73g in y® 
67th Year of his Age 



The adjoining stone says : 

In Memory of Mi' 

HANNAH MEIGS 

Relict of y« late 

Worshipfull JANNA 

MEIGS Esqr who 

Departed this life 

Jan' 4th 1749" Aged 76 



Of a later date, but interesting as showing a soldier father 
of a soldier son, is the inscription above the grave of Capt. 
Jehiel Meigs; his son, Capt. Jehiel Meigs, was killed in the 
revolutionary war; his remains brought on from New York 
state, rest in the West Cemetery. 



In Memory of 

Capt. JEHIEL MEIGS 

who died 

March 23rd 17S0 

Aged 76 years 

In faith he died, in dust he lies, 
But faith foresees that dust shall rise 
When Jesus calls, while hope assumes 
And boasts his joy among the tombs. 



252 

Near by, on a small slate stone, we find — 

HERE LIETH y« 

BODY OF MRS 

SARAH MEIGS 

WIFE OF DEACON 

JOHN MEIGS 

WHO DECEASED 

NOVr >'« 24th 

1691 AGED 

ABOUT 42 YEARS 

The West Cemetery in Madison was opened, as shown by 
an inscription on a stone, in 1688; it now contains 1800 
graves. A few inscriptions from this cemetery are given, 
which were kindly furnished by Mr. Orland Isbell of New 
Haven, who has spent many hours in deciphering and making 
copies of the inscriptions prior to 1800. 

As you enter the burying ground by the driveway the yard 
appears to be rather distinctly divided into two parts — the old 
and the new — by an east and west line. The lower part next 
the highway is warmly sheltered by a hill on the east and in 
full view of the Sound to the south. On this gentle southerly 
slope rest the early inhabitants. Most of the old monuments 
are of brown stone, but a few are of slate or of lichen-covered 
granite roughly carved. As you enter the yard the first one 
venerable for antiquity runs as follows : 

Sacred to the Memory of 

Mr. NATHANIEL LEE 

who died at Williston 

Vermont March 4th iSoi 

aged 66 & his Confort 

Mrs MABEL LEE 

who died in Guilford on a 

Visit Oct'' 20th 1800 aged 62 



Passing Mortal! our Society has Long 
been the Majority & the Voice of 
Heaven Commands you to prepare 
to become a Member of it. 



253 



In the same row rest two men of the name of Meigs, de- 
fenders of their country, who deserve a wider fame than 
silent stone can give : 



In Memory of 
Cap' JEHIEL MEIGS 
who died in the service 

of his Country 

in the state of New York 

Deem'" 27th AD 1776 

In the 34th Year of his age 

Whose Body 

was brought from thence 

by his affectionate Wife 

and Interred here. 



And another 



In Memory of 

Cap' PHINEAS MEIGS 

who fell in an action 

with the Refugees 

May 19th AD 1782. 

Contending for the Freedom 

of his Country. 

In the 74th Year 

of his Age. 

This action was fought near the East Wharf and resulted in 
the death of three of the " Refugees." 

An old brown-stone tablet, six feet by four, and a half a 
foot in thickness, set on masonry of granite blocks, stands as 
it was erected nearly a hundred years ago : 

In Memory of 

The Reverend and venerable 

JONATHAN TODD, AM. 

who was born at New Haven March 20th 1713; 

ordained pastor of the Church at 

East Guilford Oct 24th 1733; 

and continued there in the ministry until his death. 

He had a contemplative mind; read and thought much 

was candid in his enquiries; 

and in science theology and history, 

had a clear discernment and sound judgment. 

Singularly mild and amiable in his disposition; 

Clothed with humility and plainness; 



254 

Serene in all occurrences of life; a friend and patriot; 

a most laborious and faithful minister, 

guided b}' the sacred oracles; 

eminent for piety and resignation; 

adorning Religeon which brings 

Glory to God and salvation to men. 

He died in faith Feb^ 24th 1791. 

By his side lies interred his virtuous Consort, 

Mrs. ELIZABETH TODD, 

who died Dec'' 14th 1783 .^Et. 73. 



Near the tomb of the Rev. Jonathan Todd is that of the 
Rev. John Hart. 

Here lyeth the Body 
of the ReV^ M' John 
Hart Who Deceased 
March y« 4 A:D 1731 
in the 49 )'ear 
of his Age. 

Beside her husband rests Mrs. Rebekah Hart. This stone 
is of slate, about eighteen inches high by sixteen broad, and 
elaborately carved : 

HERE LYES INTERED 
ye BODY OF M'» 
REBEKAH HART y« 
WIFE TO y« REVr 
Mr JNo hart 
WHO WAS BORN 
NOVEMBER y« 11 
ANNO DOM 1692 
& DEPARTED THIS LIFE 
DECEMBr y« 7 ANNOOE 
DOM. 1715. 

Two old brown stones, commemorating the family of 
Grave, stand side by side : 

here lieth here lieth y« 

the body of body of eliza 

dauid graue bath wife of 

who deceased john graue 

NOU-- Y« i6th WHO DIED APRIL 

A D 1726 Y« 30th 1725 

AGED 26 YEARS AGED 37 YEARS 



255 

Rude carving and rude spelling are found combined in a 
stone dear the middle of the yard, whereon the inscription 
ran as follows : 

HEAR • LIES ■ Y« • BODIS 

OF • SUBMIT & • SARY • 

THE • DAFT^rS • OF • M' 

JOHN • & • M--- SUBMIT 

EUARTES • HOO • DIED 

in • ye • 6 • & • 4 YEER • OF 

THEAR • AGE • 1742 • 

Not SO remarkable for antiquity as for the quaint and ap- 
propriate epitaph is the tomb of Captain Griffin. It is a 
marble tablet, supported on five columns, and it marks the 
resting place of a sailor who lived in the pioneer days of 
American commerce : 

E G 

§ SACRED § 

to the Memory of 

Capt. Edward Griffin 

who departed this life 

August 3d 1802 

aged 40 3'ears, 



Though Boreas blasts and Neptunes waves 

Have tos'd me to and fro 
In spite of both by God's decree 

I Harbor here below. 

Where I do now at anchor ride 

With many of our fleet 
Yet once again I must set sail 

Our Admiral Christ to meet. 



Behold and see as you pass by 
As you are now so once was I 
As I am now so )^ou might be 
Prepare for death and follow me. 



256 

A small brown stone, near the center of the old yard, bears 
this inscription : 

SAMUEL SON OF 
Mr JOHN & Mrs 
MARY FRENCH 
WAS BORN 1682 
AND DIED 16S8 
AND HE WAS Y^ 
FIRST CORPS 
BURIED HERE. 

The following short eulogy of Deacon Hill appears on a 
stone of unusual size and workmanship : 

In Memory of 
Dea" TIMOTHY HILL, Esq-" 
who after having served his 
generation usefully in many 

public offices and 
employments; fell on sleep, 
Feb'-y 7th 1781. 
in the 59th Year of his 

Age. 
Blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lord. 

The following is the outline of a life begun just two hun- 
dred years ago : 

MRS. 

SARAH MORRISON 

was born July 7th 

1689 Was married 

to M-- JONATHAN TODD 

April loth 1 71 1 (who 

died Sept*"" 14th 1723) 

And was Married to 

Deacon BENJAMIN 

STONE June 1735 

And died April 29th 

1753 And Her 

Body is Interred Here. 



CATALOGUE OF RELICS EXHIBITED. 



Through the generosit)' of the late Rev. L. T. Bennett, D. D., these relics 
were displa3-ed in his houses on Whitfield street. 



The views taken in the EngHsh towns and parishes whence 
some of the settlers came to New England, were procured 
through the kindness of the following gentlemen : Rev. W. 
G. Andrews, Master of St. Cross Hospital, Winchester; Rev. 
S. A. Barnett, vicar of St. Jude's, Whitechapel, London ; 
Rev. T. A. Carr, vicar of Marden, Kent; Rev. S. L. A. 
Cooper, rector of Croxton and Eltisley, Cambridgeshire ; 
Rev. F. P. Du Sautoy, rector of Ockley, Surrey ; Rev. A. H. 
Harrison, vicar of Cranbrook, Kent ; Rev. E. H. Jones, vicar 
of Rolvenden, Kent. The friendly interest shown by all 
these clergymen, (several of whom presented the photographs 
to us) entitles them to our special thanks. The Rev. Henry 
W. Whitfeild, vicar of Christ Church, West Green, Tollen- 
ham, London, from whom we received the Whitfeild arms, 
also sent some interesting genealogical notes, showing the 
first minister of Guilford to have been of his family, a very 
ancient one. He retains the spelling of the name (Whitfeild) 
which appears in the extracts from the Ockley Register. The 
Rev. C. M. Ramus, rector of Playden, with East Guildford, 
Sussex, gave information bearing on the suggestion that the 
latter parish may have furnished its name to the American 
Guilford. The letter of Mr. Ramus makes the suggestion 
seem an improbable one. 

Extracts from the Parish Register of Ockley, Surrey, 
sent by the Rev. F. P. Du Sautoy, Rector of Ockley. (Ab- 
breviated.) 

1619 — Dorothea, daughter of Henr)- Whitfeild, baptized, March 25. 
1620 — Sarah, daughter of H. W., baptized November i. 



258 



i622 — Abigail, daughter of H. W., baptized September i. 
1624 — Thomas, son of H. W., baptized December i. 
1626(7) — John, son of H. W., baptized February 11. 
1629 — Nathanael, son of H. W., baptized June 28. 
1631(2) — Mary, daughter of H. W., baptized March 4. 
1633(4) — Henry, son of H. W., baptized March g. 
1635 — Rebekah, daughter of H. W., baptized December 25. 
1634(5) — Henry, son of H. W., buried February, last day. 

The Relic Committee desire to express their high apprecia- 
tion of the kindness of the late Dr. Bennett in loaning his 
large and commodious houses on Whitfield street for their 
exhibition, and their sorrow that he was not permitted to see 
the occasion which he had looked forward to with so much 
delight, and to which his genial presence would have been an 
added attraction. 

HALLECK COLLECTION. 

The following articles, unless otherwise stated, belonged to the poet, 
Fitz-Greene Halleck. 



LOANED BY LEWIS ROSSITER ELLIOT. 



ID 
II 



13 



14 



Portrait of Fitz-Greene Halleck. 

Portrait of Joseph Rodman 
Drake. Owned by Halleck. 

Portrait of Halleck in old age. 

Stove and Andirons. 

Teapot. Used by Miss Maria 
Halleck. 

Chair. Owned by Miss Maria 
Halleck. 

Sampler. Worked by Polly 
Elliott (Mrs. Israel Halleck), 
in 1781. 

Tailor's Goose. Used by Mr. 
Israel Halleck. 

"Old Curiosity Shop." Pre- 
sented to Halleck by Dickens, 
with latter's autograph. 

Copy of Shakespeare, 

Webster's Dictionary. Present- 
ed by publishers. 

Two Verses of Marco Bozzaris 
in Halleck's handwriting. 

Letters from Fitz-Greene Hal- 
leck to his father, Israel Hal- 
leck. 

Letters to Polly Elliott. From 
Miss Betsey Beers of New 
Haven, 1783 and 1785. 



15 Needle Book. Owned b}' Miss 
Maria Halleck. 



16 

17 

18 



19 



LOANED BY MRS. L. C. STONE. 

Cup and Saucer. 

Pair Brass Candlesticks. 

Needle-book. Made bj' Miss 
Maria Halleck out of her 
Uncle William Elliott's Chris- 
tening Blanket, 1755. 

Cape. Worn by Miss Maria 
Halleck. 

Old Oaken Chair. Belonged to 
Halleck. 



LOANED BY MRS. HENRY R. SPENCER. 

21 Bronze Inkstand. Presented 

by the Literary Club of New 
York. 

22 Quilt. Made from two dresses 

of the wedding outfit of Mary 
(Elliott) Halleck, mother of 
Fitz - Greene. Lined with 
woolen, spun and woven by 
her. 

23 Half Dozen Tea Spoons Be- 

longing to Mary (Elliott) 
Halleck's wedding outfit. 
Marked M. E., 1787. 

24 Pair of Gloves. Owned by 

Miss Maria Halleck. 



259 



LOANED BY MRS. MORRIS TYLER OF 
BINGHAMPTON, N. Y. 

25 Lock of Halleck's Hair. When 

he was 30 years old, given her 
by Miss Maria Halleck. 

LOANED BY A. G. SOMMER. 

26 Coffee Mill and Wooden Mor- 

tar. 

LOANED BY MRS. RUTH WILCOX OF 
NEW HAVEN. 

27 Silver Thimble. Belonged to 

Mary (Elliott) Halleck. 

28 White Kid Shoes. Belonged to 

Miss Maria Halleck. 

29 Wooden Fan. Owned formerly 

by Miss Maria Halleck. 

LOANED BY MISS RUTH HART. 

30 Spectacles. 

LOANED BY MRS. MILO COOK. 

31 Stand. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM DAVIS. 

32 Table. Belonged to Israel 

Halleck. 

LOANED BY MISS AMANDA STONE. 

33 China Plate. Belonged to 

Maria Halleck. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM MEIGS. 

34 Porridge Pot and Spider (very 

small). Belonged to Maria 
Halleck. 

LOANED BY MRS AUGUSTUS HALL. 

35 Autograph Letter of Fitz- 

Greene Halleck, Stating elec- 
tion of Abraham S. Fowler to 
Ugly Club of New York; also 
official notification of same by 



Secretary of Club. Date, 
Jan. 2, 1815. The Ugly Club 
was a social organization of 
the handsomest 3'oung men in 
New York City. 

LOANED BY MRS. S. B. CHITTENDEN 
OF BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

36 Chair. In which Halleck was 

seated whea portrait was 
painted. 

LOANED BY REV. E. C. STARR OF 
CROMWELL. 

37 Autograph of Halleck. 

LOANED BY MRS. L. H. STEINER OF 
BALTIMORE, MD. 

38 Autograph Note of Halleck. 

Thanking Hon. R. D. Smyth 
for loan of books. 

LOANED BY MRS. JOHN NORTON. 

39 Head of Umbrella Handle. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE S. DAVIS. 

40 Bead Basket. Owned by Maria 

Halleck. 

LOANED BY MISS KATE E. FUWLER. 

41 Coat and Habit. Worn by Miss 

Maria Halleck when brides- 
maid at the wedding of Will- 
iam Horace Elliott and Mrs. 
Hannah (Hubbard) Stone, 
August 31st, 1829. 

LOANED BY MRS. DAVID BENTON. 



42 Hair Trunk. Owned by Hal- 
leck. 



LOANED BY CLIFFORD BISHOP, 

43 Halleck's Bellows. 



26o 



BARTHOLOMEW COLLECTION. 

Exhibited at the residence of Mr. Worthington Bartholomew (forineily 
the George Griswold Place), corner Lovers' Lane and Boston Street. 



44 Mahogan}' Sideboard. Solid 

top and legs. Over mo vears 
old. 

45 Oaken Arm-chair. OueenAnne 

style. Over 200 years old. 

46 Gilt Framed Mirror. Over 100 

years old. Owned b)' Nanc}- 
Landon, wife of George 
Griswold and mother of Mrs. 
Bartholomew. 

47 Porcelain Snufl' Box. Owned 

by Ezra Griswold, a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, and grand- 
father of Mrs. Bartholomew. 

4S Gold Locket. With hair of 
George and Roger Griswold. 

49 Pin-Case. Belonged to Mehit- 

abel Cleaveland. Over 100 
years old. 

50 Picture of Mr. and Mrs. George 

Griswold. Painted by George 
Munger. 

51 Silhouette of Amanda Griswold. 

sister of George and wife of 
Eldrod Atwater Landon; also 
an early sweetheart of Mr. 
Ilenry W. Chittenden. 

52 Ship's Quadrant, 1769. Owned 

by Capt. Samuel Landon. 

53 Silver Spoon. Marked H. E., 

for Hannah Elliott, wife of 
Capt. Samuel Landon. 

54 Silver Spoon. Marked L. F., 

for Laura Foote, mother of 
Mrs. Bartholomew. Over 100 
jears old. 

55 Silver Spoon. Marked N. L., 

for Nancy Landon. About 
100 years old. 

56 Pair of Ear-rings. Belonged to 

Nancy Landon. 

57 Ring and Bracelet. Made of 

hair of Mehitabel Cleaveland, 
grandmother of Mrs. Bar- 
tholomew. 

58 Locket. With Mr. George 

Griswold's hair. 

59 Silver Brooch. Made of Ma- 

sonic Emblems. Belonged to 
Nanc)- Landon. 



60 Profiles, six on a card. Grand- 

father and grandmother, 
father and mother, and two 
aunts of Mrs. Bartholomew. 

61 Silhouette of Fann}' Griswold. 

Wife of Abraham Fowler. 
She was very beautiful. 

62 Decanter and Pitcher. Buried 

in a cave in East, or Gris- 
wold's Woods, at time of en- 
counter at Leete's Island, 
June iS, 17S1. The Cave was 
occupied for many years by 
Dorcas, one of the last of the 
Menuncatuck Indians, who 
was fed for a long time by 
Mehitabel (Cleaveland) Gris- 
wold. 

63 Chair. Owned by Hannah Lan- 

don. Over 125 years old. 

64 Chair. Owned by Ezra Gris- 

wold. 

65 Full Set of Burnt China. From 

England. In wedding outfit 
of Mrs. Nancy (Landon) 
Griswold. 

60 Teapot. Owned by Hannah 
(Elliott) Landon. 

67 Two Preserve Plates. In shape 
of oak leaves. Believed to 
be nearly 200 A-ears old. 

6S Indian Ax. Found on the 
place. 

69 Three pairs Silver Buckles. 

All over 100 years old. 

70 Gravy Boat. Belonged to 

Nancy (Landon) Griswold, 
died 1869, aged 82. 

71 China Custard Cups. Very 

ancient. 

72 Gravy Boat. Handle broken. 

Owned by Mehitabel (Cleave- 
land) Griswold. 

73 Flip Glass. Owned by Mehit- 

abel (Cleaveland) Griswold, 
wife of Ezra. 

74 Mahogan}' Book-case. Solid 

doors. Originallj' on top of 
a mahogan}- secretary. 

75 Cherry Desk. Over 150 years 

old. 



26 1 



76 Six Continental Chairs Over 

100 years old. 

77 Cherry Stand. 

78 Baby Chair. Very old. 

79 Picture of Mrs. Nancy (Landon) 

Griswold. Taken in old age. 

80 Wash Stand. 200 years old. 

81 Earthen Flower Vase. Very 

old and peculiar. 

82 Russia Counterpane. Brought 

from New York. 100 years 
old. 
S3 Dimity Counterpane. Em- 
broidered by Mrs. Hannah 
(Elliott) Landon, wife of 
Capt. Samuel. 

84 Counterpane. Embroidered b}' 

Mr. Bartholomew's mother at 
the age of 60. One of seven 
she made for her children at 
that time. 

85 Dimity Curtains. Still in use. 

Formcrl}' parlor hangings. 
Over 100 years old. 



86 



87 

88 
89 
90 

91 
92 

93 
94 
95 
96 

97 
93 

99 
100 



High Post Bedstead and Wash- 
stand. Of curled maple. 
Over 100 years old. 



Rocking Chair, 
old. 



Over 200 years 



L'hantbois of chcrr)'. 
L'hantbois of whitewood. 

Looking Glass. Owned b}' Mr. 
Ezra Griswold. 

Linen Chest. Belonged to Mrs. 
Bartholomew's grandmother. 

Mirror, with Cherry and Gilt 
Frame. Over 100 years old. 
Mahogany Table. Solid top. 
Two Cherry Tables. 
Pair Brass Candlesticks. 
Snuffers and Tray. 
Two Pewter Platters. 
Three pairs Spectacles. 
Two Tea Trays. 
Two Candle-stands. 



HUBBARD COLLECTION. 
Exhibited by Miss Mary Hubbard at her house on Broad street. 



loi Oak Linen Chest. Brought 
from England 1635. 

102 Wedgewood Teapot. 

103 Glass Tumbler. With paint- 

ing in bright colors. Very 
old. Owned by Miss Hub- 
bard's great great-grand- 
mother. 

104 Snuff Bottle. Like 103, and 

owned by same person. 

105 Goblet. From West Indies. 

Over 100 years old. 



106 Blue Ware, Gravy Bowl and 

Plate. 

107 Two Toy China Dogs. 100 

years old. 

108 Various articles of Crockery 

and Glassware. 100 to 150 
years old. 

109 Two Small Pictures. 100 years 

old. 



All the following articles were exhibited at Dr. Bennett's houses and are 
arranged in the alphabetical order of their owners: 

i.OAN'KD i;v MRS. LOIS APPELL. Whitfield was the rector 

and William Dudley and 
Thomas Norton lived there. 
Window in south wall of 
nave dates from 1327, tower 
from 1700. (Presented by 
Rev. F. P. DuSautoy, rector 
of Ockley.) 
2 Four Views of Ockley Green. 
With Stone Street, an old 
Roman road. 



no Canoe Paddle, from Sandwich 
Islands. In family over 60 
years. 

LOANED BY REV. WILLIAM G. AN- 
DREWS, D. D. 

Ill Two Views of St. Margaret's 
Church, Ockley. Rev. Mr. 



262 



"3 



TI4 



115 
ii6 
117 

118 

119 
120 
121 



123 



124 



125 



126 

127 



View of Parish Church, Mar- 
den, Kent. William Chit- 
tenden was probably born 
there. (Presented by Rev. 
F. A. Carr, Vicar of Mar- 
den.) 

Two Views of St. Dunstan's 
Church, Cranbrook, Kent. 
Home of William Chitten- 
den, Jacob Sheafe and his 
sisters, Mrs. Whitfield, Mrs. 
Chittenden and Mrs. Kit- 
chel. 

View of Very Old House in 
High street, Cranbrook. 

Glassenbury. View of Moated 
House. 

Sissinghurst Castle. Now cot- 
tages and farm buildings. 
( 1 14-1 17 inclusive, presented 
by Rev. A. H. Harrison, 
Vicar of Cranbrook.) 

View of Parish Church of 
Rolvenden, Kent. Home of 
John Hoadley and Robert 
Kitchel. 

View of Village Street of Rol- 
venden. 

Three Views of Old Farm 
House, Rolvenden. 

View of Norman Gate in Bris- 
tol Cathedral. William Sew- 
ard came from Bristol. 

Three Views of Ancient Build- 
ings in Bristol. (Bristol 
Views presented by Rev. S. 
A. Barnett, vicar of St. 
Jude's, Whitechapel, Lon- 
don.) 

Archbishop Abbott's Hospital, 
Guildford, Surrey. Whence 
Guildford is supposed to 
take its name. 

Old Guildford. From a print. 
(Presented by Miss Kate E. 
Hunt.) 

The Grange, Albury, near 
Guildford. The part shown 
was once a farm-house, be- 
lieved to date back to Whit- 
field's time. About 10 miles 
from Ockley. 

Photograph of Whitfield 
House, Guilford, 1639. 

Maps of Surrey, Sussex and 
Kent. Whence most of the 
settlers came. (Presented 
by Rev. S. A. Barnett.) 



128 Photograph of Portrait of Rev. 

Bela Hubbard, D. D. 

129 Map of New Haven Colony 

and the towns in Connecti- 
cut about 1660. 

130 Illuminated Coat of Arms of 

Rev. Henr)' Whitfield. From 
Rev. Henry W. Whitfield, 
London, England. 

131 Photograph of Ettisley Green. 

Birthplace of Samuel Dis- 
borough. 

132 Photograph of Ettisley Church. 

133 Lithograph of Church of Rev. 

Henry Ware Whitfield. 
A fine photograph of the tomb of 
Bishop Hoadley in Winchester 
Cathedral, England, sent by the 
Rev. William G. Andrews, Master 
of St. Cross Hospital, was unfor- 
tunately received a few days too 
late for the exhibition. Bishop 
Benjamin Hoadley was a son of 
Rev. Samuel Hoadley, a native of 
Guilford. He was born in Wester- 
ham, Kent, November 14th, 1676 ; 
was successively Bishop of Bangor, 
Hereford, Salisbury, and Winches- 
ter, and died at Winchester, April 
7th, 1761. 

LOANED BY MISS AMY F. BARTLETT, 
OF NORTH OUILFORD. 

134 Indian Spear-head and Stone 

Pestle. 

135 Powder Horn. 1777. Owned 

by Samuel Bartlet. 

LOANED BY MRS. SUSAN C. BARTLETT 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

136 Picture of U. S. Gunboat 

Lenape. In Rebellion, A. 
A. Surgeon Stephen C. Bart- 
lett, a native 'of North Guil- 
ford, served in this vessel. 

LOANED BY ALANSON BRADLEY OF 
MADISON. 

137 Canteen. Used either in 

Revolution, or War of 1812. 

138 "American Selections being 

the third part of Grammatical 
Institute of the English 
Language." By Noah Web- 
ster, Hartford, loth Edition. 



263 



LOANED BY MRS. FREDERICK BRAD- 
LEY OF MADISON. 

139 Brass Buttons. Owned by 

Major Julius Willard, born 
1754, who fought in Revo- 
lution. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM BUELL OF 
MADISON. 

140 One Silk Mitt. 125 years old. 

Worn by a baby when bap- 
tized. 

141 Pitcher. Over 100 years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. HARVEY BUSHNELL 
OF SAYBROOK. 

142 Silver Spoon. Belonged to 

Caleb Leete, grandson of 
Gov. William Leete. Marked 
C. L., for him; R. L., for 
Rachel Leete, his daughter; 
and S. S. , probably for Seth 
Stone, her husband. Their 
eldest grandson, Stephen 
Stone, owned it for over 50 
years. 

143 Horn Drinking Cup. Carried 

by Andrew Stone through 
the Revolution. 

LOANED BY MRS. FRANK BARTLETT 
OF NORTH MADISON. 

144 Six pieces of Antique Ware. 

LOANED BY MRS. FRANK BISHOP OF 
NORTH MADISON. 

145 Small Sauce Dish. 

LOANED BY E. CHAPMAN BISHOP. 

146 Door of Pew No. i, in Old 

Church on Green. 

LOANED BY MRS. BARTLEM. 

147 Platter. Once owned by the 

Duke of Buckingham, and 
used at Stone House, three 
miles from Buckingham. 

148 Piece of Satin. Used in hang- 

ings of dining room of Stone 
House, near Buckingham. 

LOANED BY MISS HARRIET BARKER. 

149 Bed Quilt. Over 100 years old. 

150 Red Riding Hood. 



151 Long Linen Gloves. Made by 

Tryphena Page about 125 
years ago. 

152 Linen Stockings. Home-spun 

and knit 100 years ago. 

LOANED BY MRS. RICHARD BARTLETT. 

153 Earrings. Brought from Med- 

iterranean; Stones in them 
from Rock of Gibraltar. 

154 Vase. Very old. 

LOANED BY MRS. DARWIN N. BENTON. 

155 " Sermons" and " Saints' Daily 

Exercise." B3' John Pres- 
ton, London, 1634. 

LOANED BY MRS. E. A. BENTON. 

156 Ancient Wills and Deeds in 

Benton family. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE W. BENTON. 

157 Morning Post, November 7, 

1783, with Washington's 
Farewell Address. 

LOANED BY JOEL BENTON, AMENIA, 
N. Y. 

15S Manuscript Sermons of Rev. 
Joseph Eliot. 

159 Photograph of Back of Stone 

House taken by Myron Ben- 
ton in 1862. 

LOANED BY MRS. L. E. BALDWIN. 

160 Tea and Table Spoon. 250 

years old. 

161 Milk Pitcher. 150 years old. 

162 African Spears. 

LOANED BY MRS. FRANK BLATCHLEY. 

193 Fruit Dish. Belonged to Miss 
Clara Caldwell. 

164 Blue China Plate. Belonged 

to same. 

LOANED BY MRS. HENRY BLATCHLEY, 

165 Chair. Formerly owned by 

Miss Grace Starr. 

166 Forks. Owned by same. 



264 



LOANED BY WASHINGTON BRISTOL OF 
NORTH MADISON. 

167 Salmon's "Geographical Gram- 
mar." Over 100 years old. 

16S "Young Men's Best Com- 
panion." Arithmetic over 
100 years old. 

169 "Practical Discourse." Wm. 
Sherlock, London, 1775, 29th 
edition. 



I.OANKD IIY SELDEN BENTON. 

170 Cane. Owned by his great- 

great-grandfather Chitten- 
den. 

171 Sandwich Island Mantle of 

Bark, Belt of Grass and War 
Club. Owned here 35 years. 

LOANED BY DAVID CARTER. 

172 Sign, "Strangers' Resort." 

Used over tavern, kept in 
Clinton by Mr. Jared Carter. 

LOANED BY MISS LYDIA D. CHIT- 
TENDEN. 

173 Pen. Used bj^ Deacon Abra- 

ham Chittenden, in corre- 
sponding with Washington 
in Revolution. 

174 Mirror. Over 150 years old. . 

LOANED BY MRS. DWIGHT D. CHIT- 
TENDEN OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

175 Baby Blanket. 130 years old. 

176 Small Chair. 100 years old. 

177 Pewter Shaving Cup. "Used 

by all the famil}' for 200 
years." 

LOANED BY MRS. SAMUEL CHITTEN- 
DEN OF MADISON. 

178 Old Papers, Deeds, Etc. Old- 

est dated 1683. 

179 Portrait of Parnel Kelsey, wife 

of George Munger. Painted 
by him 1810. 

180 Indian Stone Ax. Found in 

field at East River near Mrs. 
Washburn's. 



LOANED BY DENISON CHITTENDEN. 

181 Piece of Clapboard. From old 

Nathan Chittenden house in 
York street. He went to 
Sag Harbour to prepare clap- 
boards and shingles for his 
house about 1750. 

182 Ancient Spur. Relic of Rev- 

olution. 

153 Large Hair Trunk. Brought 

from England by Mr. Lo)'- 
sel, who painted his house 
black at the news of death 
ol Louis XIV. 

LOANED 1!Y MRS. AMOS CHITTEN- 
DEN. 

154 Chair. 150 years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. H. D. CHITTENDEN. 

155 Wedding Slipper of Miss Han- 

nah Coan, who danced in it 
all night 125 years ago 

186 Tea Cup.' 150 years old. Be- 

longed to Miss Hannah 
Coan. 

187 Brass Candlestick. 170 years 

old. Owned by same. 

LOANED BY E. S. CHITTENDEN, OF 

ST. PAUL, MINN. 

1S8 "The Whole Concern of Man," 
by John Edwards, Boston, 
1725. Formerl}' belonged to 
Daniel Chittenden. 

iSg Two Silhouettes. 

LOANED BY CHRIST CHURCH PARISH. 

190 Large Praj^er Book London, 
1740. Used in the church 
before the Revolution. 



LOANED BY JEROME COAN OF NORTH 
GUILFORD. 

191 Oaken Box. Upwards of 200 

years old. Came from Eng- 
land. 

192 "View of first American Rail- 

way Train," on New York 
Central Railroad, 1832. 

193 Indian Arrowheads. 

194 Wooden Quart Bottle. 



265 



igS Indian Tomahawk. Found on 
David Bartlet's farm in 
North Guilford. 

196 Indian Relics. Found in 

North Guilford by William 
Hall. H. H. Griswold and 
Ira Hull. 

197 Continental Money. 1776, 

1777. 1778. 

19S "Pictures of Dr. James Ham- 
ilton, Rev. John Wesley, 
and Joseph Cole as they ap- 
peared in Edinburgh, 1790." 

199 Almanacks from 1767 to 1777- 

200 Blue Silk Badge, 1776. Be- 

longed to John Coan of 
North Guilford; Revolution- 
ary soldier; died in 1845, 
aged 85. Worn by him on 
public occasions as a mark 
of honor. 

201 "Exposition of the Judiciall 

Laws of Moses." 1636 

202 Side-board. Cherry top, ma- 

hogany front, trimmed with 
white holly. 

203 " Easy Instruction in Sacred 

Harmony," by William Lit- 
tle and William Smith. 
Owned by Amos Fowler. 

204 Cane. From timber formerly 

over door of Stone House. 

205 Rocking Chair. Of rived oak, 

150 years old. 



LOANED P,Y MRS. SARAH COE OF 
MADISON. 

206 Earthen Teapot. Over log 

3'ears old. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM COLLINS 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

207 Table. At which Gen. Wash- 

ington and staff ate during 
Revolution. Then owned by 
Capt. Gilbert Dudley, tavern 
keeper, of Madison. 

LOANED BY WILLIAM COBLEIGH. 

208 Hand Trunk. 250 years old. 



LOANED BY TRINITY COLLEGE, HART- 
FORD. 

209 "Commentary of Valesius on 

Hippocrates." Once the 
property of Dr. Byran Ros- 
siter, the first physician in 
Connecticut; settled in Guil- 
ford 1651. 

210 "Virgilti Evangelisantis Chris- 

tiados Libri XIII." Lon- 
don, 163S. Once owned by 
John Eliot, Apostle to the 
Indians. 

LOANED BY MRS. CAROLINE CONKI.IN 
OF MADISON. 

211 Earthen Teapot. Over 100 

3'ears old. 

212 Earthen Plate. Over 100 years 

old. 

213 Pewter Bowl. Over 100 years 

old. 

214 Glass Decanter. Over 100 years 

old. 

LOANED BY MRS. JAMES COOK. 

215 Two Weapons from Naviga- 

tor's Island, Samoa. Shark's 
teeth fastened to wood with 
cocoanut fibre. 
2x6 Battle - Ax. From Samoan 
Islands. 

LOANED BY MRS. SAMUEL CORNELL. 

217 Silhouette of Roswell Judson 

of Stratford. He is said to 
have delivered the first He- 
brew oration at Yale Col- 
lege, where he was grad- 
uated 1787. 

218 Fan. Brought as wedding 

present to Anne Mills of 
Fairfield, and now owned 
by her great -great -grand - 
child. 

219 Wooden Heel of Slipper. 

Once owned by Anne Mills. 
Adjustable to any slipper. 

220 Portrait of Charles Bishop of 

New Haven. Born about 
1772. 

221 "Blazer of 1838." Worn by 

T. S. Gold of Cornwall 
while a student at Yale, 
where he was graduated 
1S38. 



266 



LOANED BY MRS. CRANE. 

222 Two Pink Teapots. Very 

old. 

223 Sugar Bowl. Verj' old. 

224 Plate. Very old. 

LOANED BY MRS. H. E. CRUTTENDEN 
OF MADISON. 

225 Silver Spoon. 150 years old. 
LOANED BY MRS. CLARA DAVIS. 

226 "Saints' Everlasting Rest." 

London, 1651. 



LOANED BY J. LEONARD DAVIS. 

227 Square Chair. 160 years old. 

228 Stand. 

LOANED BY MRS. G. S. DAVIS. 

229 Silver Pocket Nutmeg Grater. 

Owned by Captain Seth B. 
Griffing. 

230 Child's Chair. About 100 

years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE W. DAVIS. 

231 Linen Bed Spread. Spun, 

woven and embroidered by 
Hannah Hill, wife of 
Nathaniel Johnson. Now 
owned by her great-grand- 
daughter. 

232 Five Cups and Saucers. Owned 

by same Hannah Hill, at 
marriage in 1761. 

233 Silhouette. Of Nancy John- 

son, wife of Ira Hoadley. 

LOANED BY JAMES DOWD OF MADISON. 

234 Tea-pot, 100 3-ears old. 

LOANED BY MRS. NERISSA DOWD OF 
MADISON. 

235 Home-spun Spread. 150 years 

old. 

LOANED BY MRS. ORRIN K. DOWD 
OF MADISON. 

236 Continental Bill. 1776. 



LOANED BY MRS. ALPHA DOWD OF 
NORTH MADISON. 

237 Wooden Cradle. 125 years 
old. In this, four generations 
have been rocked. 

LOANED BY SIDNEY DOWD. 

23S Family Bible. 1773, with 
Abner Stone's Family Rec- 
ord. 

LOANED BY MRS. ALBERT DOWD. 

239 Leaves from Sermon of Rev. 

Jonathan Todd. 175 j-ears 
old. 

LOANED BY MRS. HOBART DOLBH. 

240 China Cup. Over 250 years 

old. 

LOANED BY MRS. IRA DUDLEY. OF 
NORTH GUILFORD. 

241 Pewter Platter. 1775. Owned 

originally by Dea. John 
Bartlett.' 

LOANED BY MRS. B. T. DUDLEY, OF 
MADISON. 

242 Copper Warming Pan. no 

years old. 

LOANED BY LANCELOT DUDLEY OF 
MADISON. 

243 Powder-mortar and Pestle. 

Owned by Dr. Reynold 
Webb. Made of Lignum 
Vitac. 



LOANED BY JASON DUDLEY OF MADI- 
SON. 

244 Powder Horn. 

245 Shot-mould. 

246 Plate. 

247 Chair. 
24S Gun. 



26/ 



LOANED BY JOHN DUDLEY. 

249 Chair. Owned by Mr. Thomas 

Hart; married Concurrence 
Bartlett in 1750. 

250 "Our Duty Towards Our 

Neighbor." Designed and 
drawn by Nathaniel Dudley 
in 1789. 

251 Knee-buckles. Worn bj^ 

Joseph Bartlett; lived 1756- 
17S6. 

252 Set of Almanacks, nearly com- 

plete, from 1780 to TS89. 
Collected by members of 
Dudley family from Nathan- 
iel down. 

LOANED BY MISS MARY ANN DUDLEY. 

253 Doll. Owned by Hannah Bart- 

lett in 17S6. 

254 Toy Drum. 

255 Pair Brass Candlesticks. 

256 Salt-cellar. 

257 Glass Tea-cannister. 

258 Plate. 

259 Teapot. 256-259 inclusive be- 

longed to Hannah fBartlett) 
Dudley; married iSoS; some 
of them were presented her 
by her aunt, Mindwell (Bart- 
lett) Chittenden. 

LOANED BY JOHN HOOKER DUDLEY. 

260 Indian Relics. Found on his 

farm on Clapboard Hill. 

261 Leather Pocketbook. Stamped 

" E. Guilford"; 150 years 
old. 

LOANED BY H. NELSON DUDLEY. 

262 Warming Pan. Very old. 

263 Flax Wheel. Spinning two 

threads at once. 

264 Foot Stove. With entire 

wooden cover. 

265 Large Winnowing Fan. 

LOANED BY MISS MARY DUDLEY. 

266 Table. Owned by John Gris- 

wold, her grandfather, who 
married Hannah Dudley, 
1790. 



LOANED BY HENRY B. DUDLEY. 

267 Dress. Made for Deborah 
Dudley, aged 10 years, who 
died 1840. 

LOANED BY CHARLES DUDLEY. 

26S Flint-lock Gun, Cartridge- 
bo.x. Shot-box and Bayonet. 
Owned by John Parmelee 
of Nut Plains; used in 
Revolution. 

269 "Laws of Connecticut," 17S4. 

Owned by Thomas Dudley. 

270 Spoon. Marked " J. M. P.," 

for John and Mary Parme- 
lee. 

LOANED BY MISS LYDIA C. DUDLEY. 

271 Carved Front of Box. "Brought 

over in Mayflower." 

272 Piece of Bed Spread Embroid- 

ery. Made by Lucy Parme- 
lee, 1789. 

273 Linen Handkerchief. Marked 

J. P., for Julia Parmelee, 
1789. 

274 Pocket. Linen dimity, initials 

worked in. 

275 Patchwork Pocket. 

276 Samples of Flax grown in 

Guilford. 

LOANED BY MRS. SOPHIA DUDLEY. 

277 "Commentary on Titus." By 

Thos. Taylor, Cambridge, 
1619. 
27S Child's Chair. Over 100 years 
old. 

279 Pair of Andirons. Very old. 

LOANED BY MISS EMILY DUDLEY. 

280 Bedquilt with Home - spun 

lining. 

LOANED BY MRS. JULIETTE DUNN. 

281 Cup and Saucer. Very old. 



268 



LOANED BY MISS CORNELIA ELLIOTT. 

282 Cup, Saucer and Spoon. 

Nearly 200 3'ears old. 
Marked "R. H.'," for Ruth 
Hart (Mrs. Bartlett). born 
1760, and owned b}' her 
mother. 

283 Table Spoon. In constant 

use since 1730. Owned by 
Diana (Ward) Hubbard, 
mother of Rev. Bela Hub- 
bard, D.D. 

284 Two Silver Spoons. Over mo 

years old. 

285 Silver Pepper Box. More 

than 150 years old. In 
Fairchild family. 
2S6 Picture of "Ruth in Field of 
Boaz," in fioss. Over So 
years old. 

287 Portraits of Giles and Amos 

Parmelee. Painted by Geo. 
Munger, about 1806. 

288 Colored Engravings. Over 

100 j^ears old. Subject of 
one, " Washington in his 
Last Illness, attended by 
Drs. Craik and Brown;" of 
other, " Mourners at Tomb 
of Washington, who ' Lived 
respected and feared. Died 
lamented and revered.'" 
2S9 Large Doll, "Samuel." 

290 Green Calash. 

LOANED BY LEWIS ROSSITER ELLIOT. 

291 Sideboard. Brought by Rev. 

Joseph Eliot in 1664 to site 
still occupied by his descend- 
ants. Doors replaced by 
part of pew doors taken 
from old church on Green. 

292 Toddy Glass. Used for gen- 

ertions at Eliot family 
gatherings. 

293 Chair. Owned once by Mrs. 

Seth Chittenden (Ann Ros- 
siter), married 1782. 

294 Pepper-box, with opening in 

bottom. Once owned b}^ 
Hannah (Dudley) Griswold. 

295 Cow Bell. Used for genera- 

tions. 

296 Flax Knife. In shape of a 

rooster. Wood on it worn 
by the flax. 



297 Oval Platter. 58 inches in 
circumference ; diameters 
17^ and 20 inches. 

29S Fish Platter. 

299 Copy of Mather's "Magnolia." 

1702. 

300 "Exposition of the Book of 

Job." London 1664. By 
Joseph Caryl. 

301 Bill of sale of Slave Sclpio. 

Given to Benjamin Rossiter 
in 1753. 

302 "The Use of the Globes and 

the Rudiments of Geogra- 
phy." 1787. By Daniel 
Penning. 

303 Snuffers and Traj'. 

304 Foot Stove. 

305 Flint-lock Gun. 5 feet 11 

inches high. 

306 Warming Pan. Owned form- 

erly by Miss Clara Caldwell. 

307 Two Tallow Dips. 

LOANED BY DR. ELLSWORTH ELIOT 
OF NEW YORK CITY. 

30S Autograph Note of Rev. 
Joseph Eliot to Gov. Win- 
throp, 1673, about John 
Meigs' illness. 

309 "A Selected, Pronouncing 

and Accented Dictionary." 
By John Elliott, Pastor of 
the Church in East Guilford 
and Samuel Johnson, Jr., 
author of the School Dic- 
tionary Suilield, 1800. 

310 "Life of John Eliot." By Cot- 

ton Mather, Boston, 1691, 
Owned by Rev. Joseph Eliot 
of Guilford. 

311 "Book of Sermons and Dis- 

courses" of Rev. John Elliott, 
D. D., of East Guilford. 

312 "The Two Witnesses" 1736. 

By Dr. Jared Eliot of Kil- 
lingworth. 

313 "Sermon on the Taking of 

Cape Breton," 1745. By Dr. 
Jared Eliot. 

314 "Essays upon Field Husbandry 

in New England." Boston, 
1760. By Dr. Jared Eliot. 

315 Petition to General Court in 

Handwriting, with Auto- 
graph, of Rev. John Eliot, 
apostle to ttie Indians. 



269 



LOANED BY EDWARD EVARTS OF 
MADISON. 

316 Carved Desk. From England. 

LOANED BY EDWIN J. FLOOK. 

317 Views of RedcliiT Church, 

Bristol, England. 

LOANED BY MRS. FLOWERS OF MAD- 
ISON. 

31S Mariner's Compass. Over 100 
years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. ANDREW W. FOOTE. 

3ig Pair of High-heeled Silk Slip- 
pers. Over 100 years old. 

320 Tape Loom. Over 100 years 

old. 

321 One Pateen. Over 100 years 

old. 

322 "Story of Dick Whittington 

and his Cat," 177S. Hart- 
ford. Adorned with cats. 

323 Shell Comb. Over 100 years old. 

324 Commission of Gen. Andrew 

Ward, as Colonel in Seventh 
Regiment of State Troops. 
Signed by Jonathan Trum- 
bull; dated March 11, 1775. 

325 Commission of Same, as Lieut. 

Colonel in First Regiment. 
May I, 1775. 

326 Commission of Same, as Brig- 

adier (General of Second 
Brigade, June 5, 1777. 

327 Hymn Book. Owned by Gen- 

eral Andrew Ward, 1786. 
Containing Watt's "Psalms 
of David," "Spiritual 
Songs," and "Lyric Poems." 
32S Trap Indian Ax, 10 inches long. 

329 Indian Bodkin and Arrow 

Heads. Dug up on Foote 
farm. Some arrow - heads 
verj' fine. 

330 Small Indian Ax, 3J/2 inches 

long. 

331 Two Small Pipes. Sold by 

Henry W. Chittenden in his 
store. 

332 Map of United States, about 

1814. Done entirel}' with 
pen and ink by Miss Cath- 
erine Beecher when 14 )'ears 
old. It shows six naval 
battles of 1812. Very re- 
markable work. 



333 Candle Cup. 250 years old. 

Blue and white Delft ware. 
Beciueathed in a will in 1656. 

334 Pope's Homer's Iliad. Old 

edition. 

335 Picture of Liberty. Worked 

in silk by Mis. Lyman 
Beecher (Roxana Foote), 
about 1790. 

LOANED BY MISS KATE FOOTE. 

336 Silver Table-spoon. Marked 

Louisburg 1747. Colonel 
Andrew Ward commanded a 
company of provincials at 
Louisburg. He commuted 
his rations of rum for money, 
with which he purchased a 
silver spoon for each of his 
four children and had Louis- 
burg engraved on handles, 
that the children "might 
know h.ow father used his 
rum." One of the original 
four table-spoons so marked, 
has been melted and made 
into two tea-spoons, one of 
which is exhibited as 388. 

337 Silver Pepper Box and Cup. 

Belonged to wedding silver 
of Diana Hubbard, wife of 
Gen. Andrew Ward. 

338 Embroideted Toilet Cover. 

Made by Mary Foote, grand- 
daughter of Gen. Andrew 
Ward, 1800. 

339 Toilet Cover. Embroideted 

by Harriet Foote. 1790. 

340 Linen Towel. Spun by Har- 

riet Foote, 1794. 

341 Teaspoon and tablespoon. 

Marked A. D. W., for An- 
drew and Diana Ward. 1730. 

342 Punch Bowl. 1772. Brought 

by Justin Foote from East 
Indias. 

343 Letter from Gen. A. W. Gree- 

ley to Mrs. Joseph R. Haw- 
ley, with flowers from Grin- 
nell Land. 

344 Portrait of Eli Foote. Painted 

in 1773. 

345 Pillow Lace. Made by Aca- 

dian French, brought from 
Canada, 1755. 



2/0 



LOANED BY MRS. ABBIE FOOTE, OF 
NORTH BRANFORD. 

346 Embroidery. By Mrs. Abigail 

Russell. She dyed the crew- 
els. 

LOANED BY WALLACE G. FOWLER. 

347 Arm-Chair. Over 100 years old. 

348 Hall Chair. Over 100 years old. 

349 Silhouette of Miner Fowler, 

Sr. , and wife. Over 100 years 
old. 

350 Silhouette of Miner Fowler, 

Jr. He was born in 1800. 

351 Silhouette of Mrs. Gallaudet 

at iS. She was born March 
20, 1798. 

352 Pitch Pipe. Used in North 

Church. 

353 China Plate. 150 years old. 

354 China Dish. 150 years old. 

355 Mustard Cup. Ver}' Ancient. 

356 Coffee Pot. Over 100 years old. 

357 Pewter Platter. 

358 Sword. Used in Train Band_ 

LOANED BY MRS. HENRY FOWLER. 

359 Embroidered Picture. Worked 

on satin. Made by Amanda 
Elliot, great-granddaughter 
of Rev. Jos. Elliot, Guilford. 

LOANED BY HENRY FOWLER. 

360 Cane. Owned by John Elliot; 

died 1797, aged 65. 

361 Dress. Owned by Sally (Fow- 

ler) Talmadge; died 1855, 
aged 87. 

362 Picture of Lydia Griffing. 

Wife of Col. William Hart, 
who died 1819, aged 24. 

LOANED BY AMOS FOWLER OF NORTH 
GUILFORD. 

363 Worsted Quilt. 1776. Owned 

by Sarah Rossiter. 
364. Bed Spread. 1776. Owned 

by Sarah Rossiter. 
365 Spoons. 1776. Owned by 

Sarah Rossiter. 



365 



367 
368 

369 

370 
371 



Three Small Spoons. 1755. 
Owned by Benj. and Sarah 
Rossiter, parents of above. 

Long Vial. Very ancient. 

Seth Morse's Account Book. 
1783. He was born 1686. 

Old Spectacles; some leather- 
bowed. 

Very Small Pewter Porringer. 

Two Thread Cases. Very 
old. 



LOANED BY MISS ANNETTE A. 
FOWLER. 

372 Go-Cart. Made by Timothy 

Seward. Nearly 100 3'ears 
old. 

373 Reel. Made of oak. Pre- 

sented to Ruth (Lee) Benton 
by her father, Capt. Samuel 
Lee. 

374 Glass Decanter and Tumbler. 

in family over 80 years. 

375 "Sermon at Ordination of 

Rev. Timothy Stone in 
Goshen."- By Rev. Amos 
Fowler, 1768. 

376 Picture and Hymn on Death 

of President W. H. Harri- 
rison. By Leander Griffin. 

377 Misses' Stays. 

378 Dirk. 

379 Sword. With Motto, "An 

Gottes Segen ist alles Gele- 
gen." 

380 Spinning Wheel. 

3S1 "Westminster Shorter Cate- 
chism," 1782. 

LOANED BY MRS. ARTHUR FOWLER- 

382 Large Pewter Platter. 

LOANED BY MRS. SAMUEL FOWLER. 

383 Rounded Hair Trunk. Be- 

longed to her great-great- 
grandmother. 

LOANED BY MISS HARRIET FOWLER. 

354 Inlaid Trunk Box. Over 125 

years old. Belonged to her 
grandmother. Mrs. Samuel 
Chittenden. 

355 Inlaid Box. 125 years old. 



271 



LOANED BY MRS. OLIVER FOWLER 
OF RICHMOND HILL, N. Y. 



3S6 



Psalm Book. 



LOANED BY MRS. CHARLOTTE 
GREGORY. 

387 China Card Dish. Belonged 
to wife of Colonel Andrew 
Ward. 

358 Silver Teaspoon. Marked 

" Louisburg." (866336.) 

359 Silver Shoe Buckles. Worn by 

Mr. Wyllis Eliot at marriage. 

390 Pocketbook, 1771. Owned by 
Mr. Wyllis Elliot. 

3gi "Homilies." "Appointed to 
be read in Churches." Lon- 
don 1623. Belonging to 
Eliot family. 

392 Pra3'er-book and Bible. Bound 

together, 1764. With family 
record of Eliot family and 
that of Gen. Andrew Ward. 

393 Linen Lawn Stock with Silver 

Buckle. Worn by Mr. Wyl- 
lis Eliot at marriage, 1763. 

394 Silk Waistcoat. Worn by Mr. 

Wyllis Eliot at marriage. 

395 Small Dish. Once owned by 

Miss Clara Caldwell. 

396 Thousand-Legged Table. 

LOANED BY PHINEAS GRISWOLD OK 
MADISON. 

397 Family Bible, 176C. Owned by 

Giles Griswold, born 1723. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE L. GRIS- 
WOLD. 

398 Silhoutteof Charlotte Griffing. 

First wife of Henry W. Chit- 
tended. 

LOANED BY MRS. JOHN GRISWOLD 
OF MADISON. 

399 Old Platter. Former!}^ owned 

by Meigs familj', at whose 
house Lafayette ate a bowl 
of bread and milk during 
Revolution. (See 906.) 

400 Blue China Plate. 

LOANED BY JOHN GRISWOLD. 

401 Hour Glass. In house for 

years, and old 50 years ago. 



LOANED BY MISS MARY GRISWOLD. 

402 Commission to Samuel Lee, 

Jr., as captain of Home 
Guard, given by Governor 
Trumbull, 17S3. 

403 Silver Tablespoon. 140 years 

old. 

LOANED BY MRS. LUCY HALE. 

404 Pewter Platter and Wine Tank- 

ard. 

LOANED BY DR. N. GREGORY HALL. 

405 " Psalterium," Hagona; inaedi- 

bus. Thomas Anshelmi Ba- 
densis Meuse ; Decembri, 
MDXXH. Bound in wood 
and sheep-skin. 

406 Rector William's Chair. He 

was President of Yale Col- 
lege, 1726 to 1739. 

407 " New England Primer." Hart- 

ford, 1843. 

LOANED BY GEORGE W. HULL. 

408 Tea-pot. Once owned bj' Mrs. 

Hull's grandmother, Mrs. 
Huldah (Chapman) Bishop. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE W. HULL. 

409 Spectacles. Belonged to her 

great-great-grandfather. 

410 French Penny, 1722. Found 

under ice house. 

LOANED BY MRS. J. MEIGS HAND. 

411 Portrait of Jonathan Meigs of 

Madison; lived 177S -1853. 

LOANED BY COL. T. W. HIGGINSON, OF 
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 

412 Pedigree of Mildred Manning, 

mother of Henry Whitfield. 

LOANED BY MRS. EUGENE HILL, OF 
NORTH GUILFORD. 

413 Wine Chest. Over 200 years 

old. Brought from China to 
England by Capt. Baldwin 
aud came with his family to 
the United States. Used in 
Revolution by surgeon, a 
descendant. 

414 Pitcher. 

415 Mug. Both of these brought 

from China b3^Capt. William 
Baldwin. 



272 



LOANED ISY i;E()RGE HILL, OF NORTH 
GUILFORD. 

416 Leave of Absence of Revolu- 

tionaiy Soldier. 

LOANED 1!Y JAMES HILL, OF NORTH 
MADISON. 

417 Grindstone. Hewn from a 

granite rock by Isle Ball, one 
of the first settlers of North 
INIadison. 

418 Candle Stand. 125 years old. 

419 Old Chair. 

LOANED BY RALPH HILL. 

420 Gun. Owned by Miner Brad- 

ley. 

LOANED BY REUBEN HILL. 

421 Cane. Marked Thomas Hill, 

1749. Made by him on ship- 
board. 

LOANED BY MRS. PORTER HILL. 

422 Old Brown China Pitcher. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE HILL. 



423 Rocking Chair, 
j'ears old. 



Over 100 



LOANED BY CAPT. HENRY HILL. 

424 Mirror. Over 200 years old. 

Always been in Hill family. 

Loaned p.y charles j. hoadley, 
ll. d., of hartford. 

425 Engraved Portrait of Bishop 

Benjamin Hoadley of Win- 
chester, Eng. Grandson of 
Rev. John Hoadley of Guil- 
ford in 1639. Bishop Hoad- 
ley was born 1676. 

426 Engraved Portrait of Arch- 

bishop John Hoadley of 
Dublin, Ireland. Brotherof 
Bishop Benjamin Hoadley, 
born 1678. 

427 Photograph of Bishop Hoad- 

ley's Monument in Winches- 
ter Cathedral. 

428 Original Patent of Hoadley 

Arms, 1715. 

429 Garment. Owned by Diana 

Ward, who married Daniel 



430 



431 



432 
433 



434 



435 



436 



437 



43S 
439 

440 

441 
442 
443 
444 

445 
446 

447 

44S 

449 



Hubbard, and later, Natha- 
niel Johnson. Born 1710, 
died 1787. 
Bible. Edinburgh, 1758. 
Brought from England by 
Rev. Bela Hubbard, D. D., 
in 1764 and given to his 
sister, Mr. Hoadley's great- 
grandmother. 

"Sermon Preached Before the 
King," March 31, 1717, on 
the "Nature of the Kingdom 
or Church of Christ," by 
Bishop Benjamin Hoadley. 

LOANED BY MISS KATE HUNT. 

Wooden Cup. Made of tim- 
ber from old State House. 

Indian Arrow and Spear 
Heads. Found near Sluice 
in Guilford, about twenty- 
five years ago. 

Indian Implements, Hatchets, 
Pestles, etc. Found in Guil- 
ford. 

Indian Relics. Found in 
mound in North Carolina, 
near Asheville. 

Chair. Over 150 years old. 
Owned by Miss Clara Cald- 
well. 

Washbowl and Pitcher. 
Pitcher has names of 13 
States, picture of Washington 
Justice and Liberty. Wash- 
bowl has picture of Inde- 
pendence Hall. 

Fruit Dish. 

China Cup and Saucer. Given 
her by Miss Clara Caldwell. 

China Cup and Saucer. Given 
her by same. 

Small Dish. 

Large Dish. 

Chair. 

L'hautbois. 

Washstand. 

Picture of "Entrance to Castle 
at Guildford." 

Photograph of Miss Clara 
Caldwell. 

Picture of Keep of Castle at 
Guildford, England. 

St. Martha's Church, Guild- 
ford, England. 



273 



LOANED r.Y SAMUEL IHNT. 

450 Cane. Presented to his great- 

grandfather by Gen. Israel 
Putnam. 

LOANED BY MISS JENNIE HURTON. 

451 Sun-Dial. About 200 years 

old. 

452 Blue and White Plaid Apron. 

LOANED BY MISS ALVENA HOADLEY 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

453 Espontoon, used in Revolu- 

tion. Owned by Oliver 
Fowler. 

454 Linen Pillow - Case, 1789. 

Woven by Luc}' Dudley. 
She married Oliver Fowler 
of North Guilford, 1790. 

455 Towel. Probably J 50 years 

old. Supposed to have been 
brought from England b}' 
Grace Baron of Boston. 
She married Daniel Fowler 
of North Guilford, Sept. 24, 
1716. Following names 
woven into it: Anna, Raph- 
ael, Tobias, Leah, Sara. 

456 Linen Towel, 1739. Initials 

of five generations woven in 
it b}' Lucy Fodsic. 

457 Powder Horn, December 2, 

1774. Owned by Eber Hub- 
bard, Jr., born Feb. 3, 1766. 

458 "Sermon delivered at Guil- 

ford, June 9, 1728." Sun- 
day following death of 
Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Sr. 
Preached bj' Rev. Elisha 
Williams, Rector of Yale 
College. Mr. Ruggles was 
pastor at Guilford 1695- 
1728. 

459 "An Answer to Two Ques- 

tions," 1712. Written by 
Rev. Richard Mather of Bos- 
ton. 
4C0 "Green's Connecticut Regis- 
ter." 1805. 

461 "Poems by Phillis Wheatley." 

Hartford, 1802. Negro ser- 
vant to the late Mr. John 
Wheatlej^ Boston, 1772. 

462 "Register of the Weather." 

1 775-1810. Mostly taken at 
Hamden. 



463 

464 

465 

466 
467 



468 
469 



"Regulations for the Order 
and Discipline of the United 
States Troops." By Jere- 
miah Ailing. 

Inventory of the late Wm. 
Smith of Guilford, 1737. 

"Letter to Congregational 
Church of North Guilford." 
From Amos Fowler, pastor 
in Guilford, 1765. 
'An Appeal from Members of 
the Congregational Church 
of North Guilford to the 
Reverend Association Con- 
vened at New Haven," Sep- 
tember, 1766. 



Paper signed 
Hubbard, D. 
25, 1766. 
Pillow Case. 



Rev. Bela 
September 



xMarked M. D. 



Guide to 
ford, 1803. 



Heaven." Hart- 



i.oaned by mrs. james hunt of 
leete's island. 

470 Yale Diploma of 1722. Given 

to Josiah Frisbie of Bran- 
ford. Last one signed by 
Rector Timothy Cutler. 

471 Tea Table Dialogues, 1789. 

Philadelphia. 

472 Powder-horn, Cartridge-box 

and Bayonet, 1776. Owned 
by Gideon Norton of North 
Guilford. 

473 Diamond-shaped Pane of 

Glass, 1723. From first meet- 
ing house in North Guilford. 

474 Glazier's Diamond. Very old. 

Owned b}' Gideon Norton of 
North Guilford. 

475 Two Silver Tablespoons. 

Marked M. D. Owned by 

Mabel Dudley, who married 

a Russell in 1754. 
^76 Cotton Gown. Owned bv 

Mabel Dudley. 
477 Whalebone Stays. Very old. 
47S Home-made Linen. Verj' old. 

479 Hand-made Net Lace. Very 

old. 

480 Gingerbread Stamp. Owned 

by Sally Handy. 

481 Pewter Mug. 

482 Large Pewter Porringer. 



274 



483 Small Pewter Porringer. 

484 Old Wooden Plow. From 

Horace Norton's farm at 
Leete's Island. 

485 "The Fulfilling: of Scrip- 

tures." By Rev. Robert 
Fleming, Boston, 1745 
Owned by Jared and Will- 
iam and Mabel Dudley of 
North Guilford, as were the 
following books: 
4S6 " Horace Lyricae." By Isaac 
Watts, D. D., London, tenth 
edition. 

487 " Plain and Serious Address 

to the Master of a Family." 
By Philip Doddridge. 

488 "A Few Brief Remarks on 

Sundry Points upon what is 
lately termed New Divinity." 
By Israel Holly. 

489 " Ruin and Recovery of Man- 

kind." New Haven, 17S0; 
2d edition" London, 1742. 

490 Chesterfield's " Principles of 

Politeness." New York, 
1795- 

491 " History of the Holy Bible." 

Hartford, 1798. 



LOANED KY MRS. VIRGIL HOTCHKISS 
492 



Powder-horn, S. H. Carried 
through War of 1812 by 
Samuel Hotchkiss. 

493 Old Ring. Owned by Hannah 

Stone. 

494 Gold Coin. Belonged formerly 

to Abner Stone, 1757. 

LUANED BY MRS. MARIA HUBBARD OF 
NORTH MADISON. 

495 Five Pieces of Antique Ware. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM ISBELL. 

496 Silhouette of Mindwell GriflSn 

when 21; 1771. She married 
Obadiah Spencer, 1768. 

497 Chair; 1768. Owned by Parnel 

Spencer, daughter of Mind- 
well Griffing. 
49S Green Earthen Toy Cradle. 70 
years old. Given to Miss 
Julia Hotchkiss (Mrs. Wm. 
Hale) when two years old. 



49'J 



500 



Mirror. Found in OziasWhe- 
don's house (where Music 
Hall now stands) when it was 
taken down. 

Warming Pan. Owned by Sim- 
eon Chittenden, grandfather 
, of the late Hon. S. B. Chit- 
tenden. Tied with bow of 
ribbon. Owned by Mrs. 
Ruggles Landon. 



LOANED BY MRS. T. R. IVES, WEST 
CORNWALL, CONN. 

501 Wedding Slippers; 1765. Worn 

by Rhoda Leete at marriage. 

502 Work Basket. Owned by 

Rhoda Leete. Probably a 
bridal gift. 

LOANED BY REV. EDWIN JESSUP, OF 
NORTH GUILFORD. 

503 China. Owned formerly by 

wife of Gen. Augustus Col- 
lins, of North Guilford, and 
now by her great-grandson. 

LOANED BY MRS. OLIVE JOHNSON. 

504 Bell Metal Skillet. Over 150 

years old. " Praises God for 
all " on handle. 

LOANED BY JOHN G. JOHNSON OF 
NORTH GUILFORD. 



505 



506 

507 

508 

509 



Gun, Canteen (marked Isaac 
C. Fowler) and Bayonet. 
Owned by Reuben Johnson, 
in Captain Lee's company 
during Revolution. 

Blacksmith's Reamer. Made 
by Isaac Johnson of North 
Guilford, 100 years ago. 

Cane. 175 years old. 

China Plate. 100 years old. 

Embroidered Muslin Dress. 
Made by Caroline Sharp of 
Massachusetts, 1794. 

Cartridge Box. 



LOANED BY MISS MARY JOHNSON. 

511 Pewter Basin and Cup. 

512 Tinder Box and Candlestick 

combined. Containing steel, 
tiint and tinder. 



275 



513 Firescreen. Made and Painted 

by Polly Flower, daughter 
of Joel; lived 1796-1824. 

514 Box. Painted by Polly 

Flower. 

515 Slippers. Worn by Polly 

Flower when bridesmaid at 
wedding of Rev. Thomas 
Gallaudet and Sophia Fow- 
ler. 

516 " Sermon in Memory of Capt. 

William Whittlesey and oth- 
ers, Drowned at Sea." 1807. 
Preached in Madison b}' 
Rev. John Elliott, D. D. 

LOANED BY MRS. RICHARD KELSEY. 



517 



;i8 



Double Chair. Called lovers' 
chair. Once owned by De- 
borah (Pendleton) Fowler, 
wife of Noah. He died 1825, 
aged 92. 

Branch from Box Bush. Grown 
from a branch that decorated 
the table when Gen. La Fay- 
ette was a guest of Noah 
Fowler at Guilford in 1824. 
Original tree was given to 
Noah Fowler by Ruth Bur- 
gess when he was courting 
her at the old Burgess place. 

LOANED BY MRS. WATSON KELSEY. 

519 Brown China Plate, Cup and 

Saucer. Over 100 3'ears old. 

LOANED BY W. S. KELSEY. 

520 Four Chairs. Owned by Sam- 

uel Burgess, born 1774. 

521 L'hautbois. Owned by Samuel 

Burgess. 

522 Gun and Bayonet. Very old. 

Owned by Samuel Burgess. 

523 Old Chair. 

524 Child's Chair. 

525 Iron Skillet. Very old. Be- 

longed to Hooker Barilett. 

526 Cartridge Box. 

527 Large Brass Andirons. 

LOANED BY MRS. LEWIS A. KLMKERLY. 

528 " New England Primer;" 1817, 

Middletown. Used b)^ Mrs. 
Amos Griswold. 

LOANED BY MRS. ELI KIMUF.RLY. 

529 Pictures of Lorenzo Dow and 

wife Peggy; 1815. 



LOANED BY MRS. KNOWLKS, mK MADI- 
SON. 

530 Chair. 150 years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. THOMAS II. LANDON. 

531 Pipe Case. Wooden, very old. 

532 Portraitof Thomas Hart. Born 

May 27, 1723, died Feb. 26, 
1S13. 

LOANED BY S. WILMOT LANDON. 

533 Charter of St. Alban's Lodge, 

No. 38, A. F. & A. M.,1771. 

534 Chair. Belonged to his great- 

grandmother Stone; 1732. 

LOANED BY CHARLES G. LATHROP, OF 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

535 Pocket-book. Made and used 

by Jeremiah Lathrop. 

LOANED BY MISS CLARA LEE. 

536 Powder-horn. Borne in Revo- 

lution by Eber Parmelee, her 
grandfather. 

537 Wooden Spoon. Over 100 

years old. Made by the In- 
dian, Picket, who captured 
Baron Dieskan, at the battle 
of Lake George. 

538 Wooden Skimmer. Made by 

Picket. 

539 Linen Towel. Woven by Bar- 

ney Kane. Left in Loom at 
beginning of Revolution and 
finished when he returned at 
close. 

540 Linen Pillow Case. Hand em- 

broidered. Owned by John 
and Jane Parmelee, married 
1740. 

541 Spread of Red Figured Hum- 

hum. Owned by Miss Lte's 
grandmother. Ruth Parmelee 
Formerly bed-curtains. 

542 Pewter Mug with Base and 

Handle. 

543 Blue and White Plaid Linen 

Handkerchief. Home-made. 
Owned by Mrs. Achsah Lee. 
Born 1784. 

544 Knitting Sheath. 

545 Knee Buckles. 

546 " Sermon at Ordination of Di. 

John Elliot;" 1791. 



276 



LOANED BY MRS. J. T. AND MISS I.. 
P.. LEK OF MADISON. 

547 Printed "Lamentation for 

those who died in the Parish 
of East Guilford in 1751." 

548 Silk Quilted Petticoat. 150 

years old. 

549 Pair Brass Candlesticks. Over 

100 years old. 

550 Two China Plates. Delt-ware. 

Over 150 years old. 

551 Pitcher. Over 100 years old. 

552 Silver Glaze Pitcher. Over 

100 3'ears old. 

LOANED BY MRS. JUSTIN LEE. 

553 Spectacles. Iron-bowed. 

554 Pewter Plate. Found by Mr. 

Lee on his premises. Prob- 
ably belonged to William 
Woodward. 

LOANED BY MAJOR W. H. LEE. 

555 Warming Pan. 150 years old. 

556 Case of Arrowheads. Found 

on his premises. 

LOANED BY MRS. SAMUEL W. LEETE 
OF LEETE'S ISLAND. 

557 Two Tablespoons. Marked D. 

L. Owned by Daniel Leete, 
whose house was burned by 
British, June 18, 1781. 

558 Small Trunk. Contained sil- 

ver and papers and carried 
when fleeing to woods with 
children, June iS, 17S1, by 
Charity Leete, wife of 
Daniel. 

559 Mortar and Pestle. Owned by 

Daniel Leete. 

560 Four Small Teaspoons. Marked 

L. H. Owned by Lois 
Hand, second wife of John 
Goldsmith; married 1808. 

561 Chair. Owned by Sally 

Handy, a Guilford cente- 
narian. 

562 Square Hair-Covered Trunk. 

Owned by Sally Handy. 



LOANED BY DEACON E. WALTER 
LEETE OF LEETE's ISLAND. 

563 Section of Rafter. From Dan- 

iel Leete's house, burned by 
British. 

564 Pair of China Mugs, 1764. 

Purchased for Sarah Dudley 
in West Indies. 

565 Dining Plate. Used in dinner 

at ordination of Rev. Thomas 
Wells Bray of North Guil- 
ford, December 31, 1766. 

566 Silver Teaspoon. Owned by 

Sarah Dudley. 

567 Cane. Owned by Dea. Daniel 

Leete, who died 1772. 

568 Pair Gold Sleeve-Buttons. 

Owned by Dea. Ambrose 
Leete, died 1809. 

569 Piece of Wedding Dress. 

Ovvned b)' Rachel Norton, 
who married Col. Timoth}- 
Stone, 1723. 

570 Linen Towel. Owned by Col. 

Timothy and Mrs. Rachel 
Stone. 

571 Skillet. Owned by Col. 

Timothy Stone. 

572 Sermon, 1770. Preached at 

Abel Chittenden's funeral, by 
Rev. Thomas Wells Bray of 
North Guilford. 

573 New England Primer. Out of 

which Sarah Dudley learned 
to read. She was born 1746. 

574 Platter. Owned b)' Sarah 

Dudley. 

575 Stone Jar. Over 100 years old. 

Owned by Ambrose and 
Miranda Leete. 

576 Pillow Case. Marked S. D. 

in blue letters for Sarah 
Dudley, grandmother of S. 
B. Chittenden, Sr. 

577 Two Large Spoons. Belonged 

to Ambrose and Miranda 
(Chittenden) Leete, married 
1773- 

578 Ladies' Iron Hair Comb. 

Made b)' a blacksmith and 
recommended by physicians 
to cure headache. 

579 Bundle of Flax. Taken from 

scaffold in his barn, where it 
has probabl}' lain for more 
than 60 years. 



277 



loaned by calvin m. leete of 
leete's island. 

580 Silver Spoon. 1705. Owned 
by Pelatiah and Abigail 
Leete. He was grandson of 
Gov. William Leete. 

551 Cannon Ball. Found in the 

field at Leete's Island after 
Revolution. 

552 Board. From old Ambrose 

Leete house, with a bullet 
hole in it, from a shot fired 
by Tories, 1781. 

583 "Two Sermons on Baptism." 

By Richard Ely of North 
Guilford, 1772. 

584 " Discourse Preparatory to the 

Choice of a Minister." By 
Thomas Foxcraft, Boston, 
1727. 

585 "Two Sermons on Brotherly 

Love." By William Seward 
of Killingworth, 1770. 
5S6 Sermon by Rev. Jonathan Todd 
of Madison on the " Death 
of Capt. James Meigs of 
East Guilford," 1739. 

587 "An Answer to Mr. Robbins' 

Plain Narrative." By Rev. 
Jonathan Todd, 1748. 

LOANED r,Y SIDNEY \V. LEETE. 

588 Pair of Tongs. Made for 

lighting and cleaning pipe, 
by Thelus Ward, in black- 
smith shop on Green. 

589 Stone in Shape of Foot. 

"Found near Sachem's Head, 
so, probabl}'. Sachem's Foot, 
orformerly property of Foote 
family." 

LOANED BY MRS. EDWIN LEETE. 



590 



591 



Piece of Gold Lace. Worn on 
wedding dress of Lydia 
Wilford, wife of Josiah 
Linsley. It came from En- 
gland with her. She was 
great-great-grandmother of 
present owner. 175 years 
old. 

Teapot. Small, old pattern. 
150 years old. 



LOANED BY MRS. R. M. LEETE OF 
leete's ISLAND. " 

592 Linen Pillow Case. 100 years 

old. Made entirely by Lucj' 
Chittenden, (Mrs. Silas Nor- 
ton of Moose Hill,) her 
grandmother. 

LOANED BY JOHN E. LEWIS OF 
MADISON. 

593 Two Linen Towels. Over 80 

years old. Made by Martha 
and Sally Doan, the latter 
afterward married Levi 
Lewis, father of loaner. 

LOANED BY MRS. J. E. LEWIS OF 
MADISON. 

594 Piece of Homespun Linen. 

In Mrs. Lewis's possession 
twenty-four years, being 
given her by her aunt Polly 
Beam, who died, aged 95. 
Owned by Polly Beam's 
grandmother. 

LOANED BY DOUGLAS LOPER. 

595 Looking-glass. Frame cov- 

ered with white satin, curi- 
ously embroidered, plush 
back. Sent to England to 
be framed. 150 years old. 

LOANED BY DEA. WM. MALTl'.Y OF 
NORTHFORD. 

596 Silver Porringer. Brought 

from England by the Apostle 
John Eliot, and given to his 
son, Rev. Joseph Eliot. 

LOANED BY MORRISON MEIGS OF 
MADISON. 



597 



Pair of Brass Candlesticks. 
75 years old. Owned by 
Miss Chloe Bishop at time 
of marriage to William Coe 
of Madison. 



LOANED BY SAMUEL S. 
MADISON. 



meh;s OF 



598 Geneva Bible, 1587. 

599 Cane. 150 years old. 

600 Inventory of Estate of Deacon 

Timothy Meigs, 1751. 



278 



6oi Collection of Deeds, 1676 to 
.1707. 

602 Marriage Publishment of John 

French and Mary Meigs. 
About 200 years old. 

603 Petition of East Guilford to be 

a Society, 1703. 

604 Copy of Will of Deacon John 

French, 1745. 

605 Picture of Meigs' House. Old- 

est house in Madison. 
Painted by Mary E. Day. 

606 Commission from Gov. Salton- 

stall to Capt. Janna Meigs, 
Benjamin Hand and John 
French, 1718. 

LOANED BY MRS. LURANDA MEIGS 
OF MADISON. 

607 Two Sermons. Delivered in 

East Guilford by Jonathan 
Todd, Pastor of the Church 
there, February 7, 1781. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM MEIGS. 



608 



509 



Jar from West Indies. Owned 
by Capt. Richard Weld. 

Wash Bowl and Pitcher. 
About 80 years old. Be- 
longed to Mrs. Walkley, 
mother of Mrs. Erastus 
Meigs. 



LOANED BY EDWARD E. MEIGS OF 
MADISON. 

5io Invitation of Richard Willard 
to a Juvenile Ball. At 
Scranton's ballroom. East 
Guilford, Sept. 2, 1819. 

LOANED BY BEVERLY MONROE. 

611 Portrait of Abigail Rose Clark. 

Over 100 years old. 

612 Patch-box. Seen in portrait 

above. 

613 Mugs. Owned by Mrs. Betsy 

Monroe. 

614 Four Teaspoons. Belonged to 

M rs. BeverlyMonroe's grand- 
father, John Stone. Marked 
I. M. S. 



615 Glass Tumbler, with Colored 

Figures. Belonged to Miss 
Grace Starr; as did 616 to 
619 inclusive. 

616 Saucer. 

617 Cup and Saucer. 

618 Small Plate. 

619 China Dish. 

620 Small Cup. 

621 Covered China Mug. Belonged 

to his Grandmother Clark. 

622 Box. Owned by Miss Grace 

Starr. 

623 " Worshipper's Assistant." By 

Solomon Howe, 1779. 

624 Shawl. Belonged to Miss 

Grace Starr. 

625 Manuscript Sermons. Of Rev. 

John Eells of Glastonbury. 

626 Hymn Book. Containing 

Songs of Praise, Penitential 
Cries and the Song of Songs. 
Belonged to his grand- 
mother. 150 years old. 

627 L'hautbois. 100 years old. 

LOANED BY J. H. MONROE. 

628 Collectionof old CopperCoins. 

LOANED BY REV. W. E. B. MOORE, OF 
NORTH MADISON. 

629 Indian Ax-head. 

LOANED BY HENRY M. MORGAN, OF 
LONGMEADOW, MASS. 

630 Photograph of Louisburg, Can. 

631 Photograph of Interior of Bris- 

tol (England) Cathedral. 

632 Photograph of St. Mary Red- 

clifle Church, Bristol. 

633 Photograph of Bristol from the 

Perry Road. 

LOANED BY MRS. ALPHA MORSE. 

634 Tea-pot. Formerly owned by 

grandmother of Mr. Charles 
Fowler. 

635 Old Plate. Given her by one 

of the town poor from North 
Guilford. 

636 Needle-book. Once owned by 

Miss Patty Galpin's mother, 
of Woodbury. Over 150 years 
old. 



279 



LOANED BY MRS. ELIZA MUNGER. 

637 Chair. Belonged to Walter P. 

Munger's grandfather. 

638 Silhouette of Walter P. Hun- 
ger, aged II. 

LOANED BY FRANK MORSE. 

639 Indian Tomahawk and Arrow- 

heads. Found in Guilford. 

LOANED BY MRS. ELIZABETH MUNSON. 

640 Embroidered Coverlet. Over 

100 years old. 

641 Bayonet and Cartridge Box. 

Used in Revolution. 

LOANED BY GEORGE NETTLETON. 

642 China Plate. 100 to 150 years 

old. 

643 Cup. 

644 Pewter Porringer. 

645 Pewter Plate. 

646 Cider Mug. All these be- 

longed to Jemima Pierson, 
who married Nathan Gris- 
wold, 17S0. 

LOANED BY MRS. JOHN NORTON. 

647 Clothes Pin. Over roo years 

old. 
64S Medicine Vial to hang on bed- 
side. 

LOANED BY MRS. A. E. NORTON OF 
NORTH GUILFORD. 

649 Silhouette. 

650 Continental Money. 

LOANED BY MISS LUCY NORTON OF 
MADISON. 

651 "Sermon by Rev. Dr. John 

Elliott at death of Dr. Jon- 
athan Todd," 1S19. 

652 Tobacco and Pipe Case. Used 

by Dr. Jonathan Todd of 
East Guilford, Miss Norton's 
grandfather; 100 years old. 

653 Profile Picture of Rev. Dr. 

John Elliott and Wife, taken 
nearly 100 years ago. He 
was pastor at Madison (1791- 
1824). 



654 Profile Picture of "Squire" 

William Todd, 1802. 

655 Powder Horn, 1819. H. L. N. 

656 Linen Bed Curtain Drapery. 

Over 100 years old. Used 
by Mrs. Dr. Jonathan Todd. 
The rest of it is in the N. H. 
Colony Historical Society's 
rooms. On it battles are de- 
picted. This piece has on 
it medallions of the Prince 
of Nassau De Crillon, and 
Gen. Elliott, also two battles 
with the inscriptions "The 
glorious defence of Gibraltar 
and Destruction of the float- 
ing Batteries bj' the brave 
Elliott and his heroic garri- 
son," and "Your fame, in- 
glorious France and Spain, 
sunk by Elliott's coup de 
main, 1782." 

LOANED BY MRS. ANSON NORTON OF 
NORTH MADISON. 

657 Indian Pestle. 

658 Chair. 200-years old. 

659 Wooden Bowl. 125 years old. 

660 Indian Arrowheads. Found in 

North Madison. 

661 Indian Relics. Found in North 

Madison. 

LOANED BY EDWARD NORTON. 

662 Pictures of Old House which 

stood where Edward Nor- 
ton's now stands. Framed 
with wood of old house, 
which is said to have been 
the third built in Guilford. 

663 Old Rocking Chair. Owned 

by Mrs. Bela Fowler (Cla- 
rissa Hilliard), married 1797. 

664 Knee Buckles. Worn by Sam- 

uel Hotchkiss, 1731. 

LOANED KY WILLIAM NELSON 
NORTON. 

665 Stone Pestle. Used by Indians. 

LOANED KY WALTER W. NORTON. 

566 Flint-lock Musket. Carried 
through the Revolution by 
Abram Norton. 



280 



LOANED BY t)EACON JOHN WILLIAM 
NORTON. 



667 



669 

670 
671 



Circular Backed Armchair. 
Belonged to Rev. John Hart, 
first minister in East Guil- 
ford, 1707; also first gradu- 
ate who studied at Yale Col- 
lege, 1703; died 1731. 
668 Cup and Saucer. Belonged to 
Samuel Russell, son of Rev. 
S. Russell; married 1753 to 
Deborah Baldwin. 

Silver Spoon. Belonged to 
Mary (Hart) Dydley; married 
1777- 

Silver Spoon. Belonged to 
Ruth Hart, sister of above. 

Table Cloth. Belonged to 
Ebenezer and Deborah (Crut- 
tenden) Bartlett; married 
1729. 
672 Milk Cup. In shape of cow. 
Belonged to Elizabeth Rus- 
sell; married Ambrose Dud- 
ley, 1783. 
f)73 Horn-book. Belonged to Mary 
Hart. Probably over 200 
years old. 

674 Pillow-cases. Belonged to 

Elizabeth and Abigail Rus- 
sell before April 29, 1783. 

675 Two Mugs. Confiscated from 

contraband trade with Tories 
on Long Island in Revolu- 
tion. 

LOANED BY WALLACE D. NORTON. 

676 Map of Original Layout of 

Guilford. Draughted by him- 
self. 

LOANED BY MRS. JOSEPH NORTON. 

677. Old Cotton Gown. 

LOANED BY FRED E. NORTON. 

678 Very Large Braided Rug. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM NELSON 
NORTON. 

679 "The Foundation of Christian 

Religion Gathered into Sixe 
Principles." London, 1636. 
6S0 Deed from Benajah Stone to 
William Stone. 



LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM NORTON. 

681 Earthen Bean Pot. Owned by 
William Norton, Class of '29, 
Yale College, as did all the 
following articles: 

6S2 Small Round Table. 

683 China Teapot. 

684 Hand Trunk. 

685 Small China Dish. 

686 Tea Caddy. 

687 China Loving Cup. 

688 Milk Pitcher. 

689 Large Tumbler. 

690 Wine Glass. 

691 Cup and Saucer. 

692 Cup and Saucer. 

693 Cup and Saucer. 

694 Cup and Saucer. 

695 Two Blue China Plates, with 

inscription, "Landing of 
Gen. La Fayette at Castle 
Garden. Aug. 16, 1824." 

LOANED BY JARED P. PARKER. 

696 " Fools in their Folly the Most 

Dangerous Companions " Jiy 
Elijah Norton, of Guilford: 
1785. 

697 "The Life of Faith." By Rev. 

Joseph Eliot, pastor at Guil- 
ford {1664-1694). 

LOANED BY JOHN C. PARKER. 

69S Chair. Owned by Ebenezer 
Hotchkiss; born 1723. 

LOANED BY MRS. JOHN PARMELEE. 

699 Metal Sugar Bowl. Very old. 

In family over a century. 

LOANED BY WILLIAM II. PARMELEE 
OF MADISON. 

700 English Rifle. 150 3-ears old. 

Formerly a fiint-lock. 

LOANED BY MRS. HORACE PARMELEE. 

701 Hand Sewing. 80 years old. 

702 Teapot. 80 years old. 



28 1 



LOANED BY D. K. I'ARMELEE. 

703 "Code of Laws of 1650." 

Printed at Hartford, 1836. 

704 "The Balance and Columbian 

Repository." Hudson, N. 
Y., 1803. 

LOANED BY MISS ELIZABETH PAR- 
MELEE. 

705 Chair. One of a set brought 

from England by Governor 

years ago. 

Some of the set are in the 
pulpit of the Third Congre- 
gational Church, Guilford. 

LOANED BY MRS. PERRY. 

706 Sampler, "Harriot Collens." 

Made it in 1S04. With fam- 
ily pedigree, 1762-1801. 

LOANED BY GEORGE A. POLLARD OF 
MADISON. 

707 Table. Which belonged to 

Gov. Wolcott and at which 
George Washington dined. 
70S Seraphine. Brought from En- 
gland 150 years ago. 

LOANED BY JUDGE CHARLES H. 
POST. 

709 Town Records, Book A, 1645. 

These records written by 
Gov. William Leete. 

710 "Guilford's Proprietors' Rec- 

ords," Vol. I. " Booke of 
the Terryers," 1645. 

711 "Booke for the More Fixed 

Orders for the Plantation." 
Town Record, vol. B. 

712 " Book of Deeds," Vol. i. 

Containing copies of bids 
from Indians. 

713 Ballot Box. Now used for 

" State Ticket." Made from 
panels of pulpit doors of Old 
Church on Green. 

LOANED BY MISS MABEL REDFIELD 
OF MADISON. 

714 Pewter Platters. 200 to 300 

years old. 



LOANED BY ORRIN D. REDFIELD OF 
MADISON. 

715 Pocket Gin Flask. Over 100 

years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. MARY G. REDFIELD. 

716 Embroidered Bed Spread. 

Made by Mrs. Elias Grave 
about 1770. 

717 Sword. 

71S Old Papers. Connected with 
Revolution. Carried by 
Captain Elias Grave in Rev- 
olution. He was born 1733. 

719 Commission of Ensign Elias 

Grave, etc. Jan. 20, 1777. 
Signed by Jonathan Trum- 
bull. 

720 Commission of Lieut. John 

Grave. 1709. Signed by 
Gurdon Saltonstall. Lieut. 
John Grave was born 165S 
and died 1726. 

721 Order from General Court at 

Hartford, Oct. 12, 1682. To 
Guilford Constables. Signed 
by John Allyn, Secretary. 

722 Order of Court. For Settling 

the Boundaries of Saybrook 
and Kenilworth, 1692. 

723 Permission to Drain Swamp 

above Tuxis Pond, 1693. 

724 Deeds of Land in Guilford. 

Granted John Grave, 1681 
and 16S8. 

LOANED BY HENRY PYNCHON 
ROBINSON. 

725 Oaken Arm-chair, tape loom 

back. Belonged to Thomas 
Robinson, 1640. 

726 Letter from Jonathan Pitman 

to Thomas Robinson, Nov. 
12, 1675. 

727 Leather Wallet, with Colonial 

and Continental Money of 
Col. Samuel Robinson. 
Earliest date, 1744. 

728 Foot-Stove. 

729 Warming Pan. 

730 Wooden Pestle. Owned once 

by Col. Samuel Robinson. 

731 Iron Pestle. 



282 



732 Deed of Sale of Slave, Ciiffey, 

by Nathaniel Bishop. 

733 "Pottery and Porcelain." By 

Charles Wvllys Elliot. Ap- 
pleton &Co., 1878. 

734 Samp Mortar. Owned by 

Thomas Robinson, 1640. 

735 School Copy Book of Rev. 

Henry Robinson, March 21, 
1802. 

LOANED BY MRS. GEORGE ROSS. 

736 "Sermon at Ordination of Rev. 

John Elliott." 1791. By 
Rev. Achilles Mansfield. 

LOANED BY MRS. F. W. ROSSITER 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

737 Arm Chair. Over 200 years 

old. 

738 Glass Tea Canister. Over 200 

years old. 

739 Linen Towel. Over 200 3'ears 

old. Owned by Timothy 
Baldwin, 1680. 

740 Bed Spread. Over 200 years 

old. Owned by same. 

LOANED BY BENJAMIN ROSSITER OF 
NORTH GUILFORD. 

741 Powder Horn. Used in Revo- 

lution. 

LOANED BY MISS ADELINE ROSSITER 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

742 Tea-pot and Pepper-box. 

LOANED BY MRS. EDGAR ROSSITER 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

743 Plate. Belonged to Abel 

Chittenden, who died while 
at Yale College, 1770, aged 
20. 

744 Wooden Sugar Bowl. 

745 Pewter Basin. 

LOANED BY MRS. ANN SCRANTON OF 
MADISON. 

746 Coffee Pot. 100 years old. 

747 Earthen Mug. Over 100 years 

old. With Masonic em- 
blems. 

748 Two Earthen Cups and 

Saucers. Over 100 years 
old. 



LOANED BB MRS. T. S. SCRANTON OF 
MADISON. 

749 " Pilgrim's Progress," H. Part. 

1744; 17th edition. 

750 " Commentary on the Epistle 

of James." By Thomas 
Manton, 1651. 

751 "Explanation of Assembly's 

("atechism." By Thomas 
Vincent, 1708. 

752 "The Safety of Appearing at 

the Judgment in the Right- 
eousness of Christ." By 
Solomon Stoddard, 1729. 

753 "The Communicant's Com- 

panion." By Matthew Henry, 
1831. 

754 Cuff Buttons. Of Deacon 

Thomas Stone, 1680. 

755 Handle of Door of First Meet- 

ing House in East Guilford, 
1710. 

756 Saddle Trunk. Owned by Dr. 

Fitch of North Guilford. 

757 Cocked Hat. Worn by Major 

Todd in Revolution. 

LOANED BY JOSEPH SCRANTON OF 
MADISON. 

758 Fan for Cleaning Grain. Over 

100 years old. 

LOANED BY MISS LUCY SCRANTON OF 
MADISON. 

759 Record Book of the Bishop of 

London's Commissary for 
Pennsylvania. Rev. Archi- 
bald Cummings, 1728. Aft- 
erwards, an orderly book in 
5th Virginia Regiment, 1776. 
Finall}^ account book of 
Sergeant Abraham Scranton 
of East Guilford (now Mad- 
ison), into whose possession 
it came March 8, 1777. Said 
to have been found on a bat- 
tle-field in or near Wood- 
bridge, N. J., on day last 
named. 

760 Continental Eight-Dollar Bill, 

1776. 

761 Copy of United States Consti- 

tution, 1787. 

762 " Laws of Connecticut," 1751. 



283 



763 
764 

765 
766 



767 
76S 
769 

770 



771 
772 

773 
774 

775 



" Divinity of God," 1650. By 

Fr. Cheynell. 
Pewter Platter, 1768. 
Wooden Box, 1768. 
Wooden Bottle, 1768. Used 

for carrying drink into the 

field. 
Glass Window. 150 years old. 
Spinning Wheel. 90 years old. 
Four Half-pence, iSoo, 1804, 

1S04, 1807. 
Seven Revolutionary Bullets. 

Brought home from the war 

by Abraham Scranton, born 

i'754- 
Bee-box. Very ancient. 
Linen Sheet, 1775. Woven by 

Mrs. Mercy Dowd, wife of 

Timoth}\ 
Pair Wool-cards. 75 years old. 
Pair Deer-horns. 102 years 
old. 
Hatchel for Flax. 



LOANED BY CHARLES L. SCRANTON, 
OF MADISON. 

776 Portrait Capt. Frederick Lee, 

1818. Painted by Kosciusko, 
in gratitude for being saved 
and brought to United States 
in revenue cutter by Captain 
Lee. 

LOANED BY GEORGE E. SCRANTON, OP" 
MADISON. 

777 Musket. Used by Abram 

Scranton in Revolution. 

LOANED BY MISS HATTIE T. SCRAN- 
TON OF MADISON. 

778 Blanket. Belonged to Joel 

Griswold, Sr. , and made by 
his wife. 

LOANED BY GEORGE M. SEWARD. 

779 Charts used in Lancasterian 

School. Kept here 1824- 
1829. 

780 Box Stove. First one cast 

whole; from pattern by Mar- 
tin Seward. Still in use. 

781 School Teacher's _Certificate, 

of Martin Seward for Clap- 
board, Hill District, 1811. 



782 Wine Glass. 72^ inches high- 

200 years old. 

783 Indian Tomahawk. 

LOANED BY MRS. LEONIDAS SEWARD- 

784 Red Riding Hook Cloak. For- 

merly worn by Mrs. Dr. 
Lindsley, North Branford. 
125 years old. 

785 Crockery. Blue willow pat- 

tern, 5 pieces. 

LOANED BY MRS. JOHN L. SEWARD. 

786 " Christology." By Robert 

Flemming; 1705. 

787 " The Blessedness of the 

Righteous." By John Howe; 
1742, Glasgow. 

788 " Brother Jonathan." April 10, 

1841. 

LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM SKINNER. 

789 Picture of "America Guided by 

Wisdom." Formerly in old 
New Hav'n Museum, broken 
up 35 years ago. 

LOANED BY MISS MARY C. SMITH. 

790 Wedding Slippers. Worn by 

Mrs. Ira Hoadley, at mar- 
riage in 1793. Made from 
lining of British soldier's 
coat. Now owned by her 
grand-daughter. 

791 File of Connecticut Journals. 

1793 and 1794. 

792 Portrait of her mother. 

LOANED BY MISS EMELINE SMITH OF 

MADISON. 



793 



794 



795 
796 

797 



Flip-glasi 
Owned 
1733- 

Portrait 
Smith, 



140 years old. 
by Noah Fowler, 



of Mrs. Content 
1791. Mrs. Smith 
then was aged iS; she was 
daughter of Noah Fowler; 
married Daniel H. Smith, 
1816. 

Arm Chair. 125 years old. 

Chair. 135 years old. 

Johnson's Dictionary, 1S06. 
Boston, 2nd American Edi- 
tion. 



284 



798 Pair of Brass Candlesticks. 

120 years old. 

799 Oak Linen Chest. 180 years 

old. 

800 Spinning Wheel. 115 years 

old. 

801 China Plate, no years old. 

802 John Milton's Poems, 1794. 

803 Counterpane. 75 years old. 

804 Linen Sheet. 100 years old. 

805 "Two Sewing-Silk Shawls." 

50 years old. 

LOANED BY MISS E. P. B. SPENCER. 

806 Glass Pitcher. Over 100 years 

old. First glass made in 
America. From northern 
New York. Handle broken 
off. 

807 Ivory Miniature. 80 years old. 

Portrait of Miss Spencer's 
mother. 

808 Stays. Very old. 

LOANED BY HENRY R. SPENCER. 

809 Sermons. 1592. By Henrie 

Smith and others. 

810 Portrait of his Father. Painted 

by an artist 80 years old, in 
1865. 

811 Portrait of his House, built 

about 1700. Painted by 
same artist. 



LOANED BY SAMUEL C. SPENCER. 

812 Flint Lock Gun. 

813 Round Table. 150 years old. 
S14 Old Chair. 

815 Old Chair. Belonged to Sal- 

tonstall family and saved 
when New London was 
burned by the British in 
Revolution. 

816 Bread Toaster. Over 100 years 

old. 

817 Fire Slice. Belonged to Sal- 

tonstall family. 
S18 Tines of Pitchfork. Over 100 
years old. 



LOANED BY MRS. WILLIAM SPENCER. 

819 Chair of the Saltonstall Fam- 

ily. Formerly owned by 
Leverett Vail, a descend- 
ant of the family. When 
Arnold took New London 
the chair was on a pile to be 
burned. A bystander said: 
"The owner was a peace- 
able man, an enemy to no 
one." At this remonstrance 
the articles were given back 
to the owner. 

LOANED BY ALTON SPENCER. 

820 Indian Relics. Found in Guil- 

ford. 

LOANED BY A. G. SOMMER. 

821 Cane. Supposed to have been 

carved by Indian Sachem. 

LOANED BY MRS. HENRY STANNARI). 

822 Gourd. 125 years old. Be- 

longed to her grandfather, 
Reuben Norton. 

LOANED BY MOSES J. STANNARD OF 
MADISON. 

823 Gun. Carried to Bunker Hill 

b}' Didymus Dowd; born 
1746. 

824 Chair. Over 200 years old. 

LOANED BY REV. E. C. STARR. 

825 Block of Stone House, Carved 

in Japan. 

826 Letter from George Washing- 

ton to Captain George Starr 
of Middletown. 

827 Papers Concerning Coast 

Guard in Revolution. By 
William and John Starr, 
Gov. Matt Griswold, Col. 
Return L. Meigs and In- 
crease Pendleton. 

828 Justice of Peace Papers. By 

Gen. Andrew Ward, Will- 
iam Starr and Gen. Augustus 
Collins. 

8^9 Box made of Clapboards from 
Old Starr House. Built 
1687. 

830 Samples of Wedding Dresses 
of Five Generations. 



285 



S3r Autograph of George Hill. 
832 Photograph of Sideboard. 

Now owned by Starrs of 

Hartford; very fine. 

533 Photograph of Church at Ash- 

ford, Kent, where Dr. Com- 
fort Starr was warden. 

534 Book Rack. Made for Burgis 

Starr. Inlaid with wood from 
old Burgis house, 1742; old 
Starr house, 1787; old Whit- 
field house, 1639; old Samuel 
Lee house, 1764; Charter 
Oak, cocoa wood, and other 
wood from Bethany, Pales- 
tine. 

LOANKD BY MRS. JOHN STARR. 

835 Comfortable. Made of hum- 

hum bed-curtains. With fol- 
lowing exhibits, owned b}- 
William Starr, Esq.; died 
1816, aged 77. 

836 Looking-glass; 1726. 

837 Tin Oven. 

838 China Plates. Probably owned 

by Wm. Starr's grandfather, 
Comfort Starr, Jr. 

839 Pewter Platter. The three last 

articles were used in prepar- 
ing and serving dinners for 
town officers. 

840 Small Pink China Cup. 

LOANED BY MRS. LEWIS H. STEINER. 

841 Records of 4th Society; 1731- 

1811. Including Records of 
Baptist Societ}', 1820-1823. 

842 Autograph Sonnet of George 

Hill at Dedication of Hal- 
leck's Monument in Guil- 
ford, 1869. 

843 Treasurer's Accounts of 4th 

Society, 1750-1789. 

844 Continental Money. 

845 Plan of the Green by Town's 

Committee, 1729. 

846 Commission of Isaac Tomlin- 

son, as Lieutenant in King's 
American Dragoons, Febru- 
ary 23, 1781. Signed by Guy 
Carleton. 

847 "The Infidel Preacher, or the 

Conversion of A. B. Gold- 
smith," 1821. 



848 Records of Guilford Library, 
1797-1815. 

S49 Old Arithmetic; about 1600. 

850 "New Year's Discourse," 1S02. 
By Rev. John Elliott, D. D., 
of Madison 

S51 "Discourse on Death of Rev. 
Amos Fowler," 1800. By 
Rev. John Elliott, D. D. 

852 " Funeral Discourse for Rev. 

William Seward, of Killing- 
worth," 1782. By Rev. Jona- 
than Todd, of Madison. 

853 "Right Improvement of Life." 

By Rev. Thomas Ruggles, 
Jr., 1745. 

S54 "Usefulness and Expedience 
of Souldiers." By Rev. 
Thomas Ruggles, Jr. 

855 "Sermon at Ordination of Rev. 

Edmund Ward over 4th So- 
ciety," 1734. By Rev. John 
Graham. 

856 "Funeral Sermon for Mrs. 

Amanda Redfield." By Rev. 
Jonathan Todd, 17S3. 

857 "Funeral Sermon for Rev. 

Thomas Ruggles, Jr." By 
Rev. Jonathan Todd, 1770. 
85S "Funeral Sermon for Rev. 
Amos Fowler," 1800. By 
Rev. Thomas Wells Bray. 

859 "Funeral Sermon for Rev. 

John Elliott, D. D." By 
Rev. Eleazar T. Fitch, 1825. 

860 "Sermon at Funeral of Rev. 

Thomas Wells Bray," 1808. 
By Rev. John Elliott, D. D. 
86r "Dissertation on the Right and 
Obligation of the Civil Mag- 
istrate to Take Care of the 
Interests of Religion," 1804. 
By Rev. Simon Backus of 
North Madison. 

862 "Pious Education of Children 

the Great Duty of Parents." 
Preached at North Guilford, 
1800, by Rev. John Willard 
of Meriden. 

863 Papers of Library of Guilford, 

Saybrook, and Lyme, 1787. 

864 Report of Committee, on 

boundary between Guilford 
and Kenilworth, 1699. 



286 



865 
866 

867 

868 

869 
8 70 
871 
872 

873 



LOANED BY MRS. L. C. STONE. 

Shoes, Dress and Apron. 
Worn b)' Wm. Elliot, born 
1755- 
Blanket. Made from petti- 
coat, quilted and worn by 
Beulah Parmelee.at marriage 
to Nathaniel Elliot, Jan. 3, 
1754- 

Spun and woven by 

Timothy Stone's 

Mrs. Stone was 

Griswold, married 



Blanket. 

Mrs. 

mother. 

Annie 

1789. 
Cheese Press. Still in use. 

Also cheese made in it this 

summer. 
Two Pewter Plates. Belonged 

to Col. Timothy Stone. 
Tin Roaster. Used for fowls. 

More than 100 years old. 
Hood. Worn by Mrs. Laura 

Stone in 1789. 
Knife and Fork. Made in 

London and owned by Caleb 

Stone, 1708. 

Pewter Teapot. Part of Sarah 
Rossiter's wedding outfit, 
1779- 

LOANED BY MRS. ERASTUS STORER. 

874 Arm-chair. 

875 Old Time Lantern. 

LOANED BY HENRY STONE OF 
MADISON. 

876 Chair. Over 200 j^ears old, 

Owned by William Leete. 
Governor of Connecticut, 
1676-1683. 

LOANED BY MISS AMANDA STONE. 

877 Blue China. 

LOANED BY MRS. EDGAR D. STUDLEY. 

878 Portable Wooden Water Bot- 

tle. For game hunters, 1680. 

879 Sugar Bowl. 100 years old. 

880 Tea-cup. 100 years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. SARAH TODD. 

881 Round Mahogany Table. Top 

large, round and of one 
piece. Bought in Boston for 
$16.00. Belonged to her 
grandmother, no years old. 



LOANED BY MRS. LEVI THRALL. 

8S2 All Wool Blue and White Bed- 
spread. About 70 years old. 
Made entirely by Mrs. 
Thrall's mother. 

LOANED BY MRS. UPSON. 

S83 Pipe Box. Belonged to Abner 
Stone of Long Hill. 

884 Warming Pan. 100 years old. 

LOANED BY MRS. CHARLES WALKLEY. 

885 Powder Horn. Jan. 16, 1773. 

Owned by Eber Stone, Jr. 
Inscription on it: 

"My days to come, if God will lend ; 
My King and country I'll defend." 

886 Loving Cup. 206 years old. 

Brought by Eben Stone from 
England. 

LOANED BY DR. D. \V. WEBB OF 
MADISON. 

887 Portrait of Mr. Jehiel Meigs, 

born 1777. Uncle of Daniel 
and Jehiel Meigs Hand. 

888 Wine Glass. Belonging to 

same Jehiel Meigs. 
S8g Stays. Over 150 years old. 
Owned by Dr. Webb's great- 
grandmother and worn by 
her on her wedding day. 

LOANED BY MRS. EMILY WEED. 

890 Embroidered Picture, "Arms 

of Connecticut." 

891 Embroidered Picture, "Sun 

Worshipper." 

892 Andirons, ornamented with 

little image. 

LOANED BY WILLIAM WEED. 

893 Part of Cannon Ball. Found 

imbedded in timber of old 
Abner Stone house at Long 
Hill. Probably a relic of 
Revolution. 

LOANED BY MRS. FRED WELD. 

894 Bible. 1623. London. With 

pedigrees. 

895 Pair of Spectacles. "Came 

over in Mayflower." 
S96 Scissors, no )'ears old. 



28; 



897 Bag. Made from foot of Al- 

batross. 

898 Pewter Porringer. 

899 Glass Tea Caddy. 

900 Bronze Sugar Bowl. Luster- 

ware. 

901 Piece of Embroidery, from 

bed-hangings. Owned by 
her Grandmother. 
go2 "Articles, Injunctions, etc., of 
Church of England." Lon- 
don, 1684. 

903 Knife and Fork. Over 100 

years old. Blade originally 
steel, handle plated; now all 
plated. 

LOANED BY MRS. LEVERETT WHEDON 
OF MADISON. 

904 Tea Caddy. Over 100 years 

old. Brought from England. 

LOANED BY G. A. WILCOX OF 
MADISON. 

905 Military Order. To Captain 

Daniel Hand, 6th Co. in 7th 
Regt., signed b)^ "Andrew 
Ward, Jr., Col.," June 10, 
1776. 

906 Picture of old Meigs House 

in Madison. Painted by G. 
W. King. (See 399.) 

LOANED BY MRS. JOHN WILCOX OF 
MADISON. 

907 "Sermons," 1740. By Rev. 

Jonathan Todd, pastor at 
Madison (1733-1791 ) 

LOANED BY MRS. EMILY WILCOX OF 
MADISON. 

go8 First Madison Post-Olfice. 

LOANED BY MRS. ALFRED WILCOX. 

909 Gold Ring. Motto inside, 

"Love and live happy." 125 
years old. 

LOANED BY HENRY B. WILCOX OF 

MADISON. 

910 Picture of old Field House. 

Built b}' Cyrus Field's an- 
cestor, Ensign Daniel Field, 
in 1720. 



I.OAN'ED P.Y MRS. ALBERT WILDMAN. 

911 China Tea Caddy. Very old. 

LOANED BY MRS. LEWIS WILLIAMS. 

912 Pewter Teapot, Sugar Bowl, 

Cream Pitcher. Over 200 
years old. Belonged to 
Capt. Tyler's ancestors. 

913 Arm-chair. Belonged to Miss 

Clara Caldwell. 

LOANED BY CHARLES E. WILLARD OF 
MADISON. 

914 Entick's English Dictionary. 

1784; London. 

LOANED BY JOHN WINGOOD. 

915 Likenesses in Plaster of Napo- 

leon Bonaparte and Maria 
Louisa. Captain Loomis 
bought them in France on 
coast of Mediterranean. 

LOANED BY ELEAZAR WOODRUFF. 

916 Small Hair Trunk. Used by 

his grandfather in Revolu- 
tion. Extract from letter 
inside. 

LOANED BY REV. E. E. BEARDSLEY, 
D. D., OF NEW HAVEN. 

917 Picture of Samuel Johnson, 

D. D. First president of 
Columbia College; born in 
Guilford, 1696; 

LOANED BY MRS. MARY KELSEY. 

918 Pair of Linen Pillow Cases. 

Made from flax grown in 
Guilford by her great-grand- 
mother, Lucy Brockett. 130 
years old. 

919 Silver Spoons. Owned by 

Lucy Brockett. 

920 Pepper Box. Belonged to 

Lucy Brockett. 

921 Two Plates. About 150 years 

old. 

922 Silver Spoon. Owned b)' 

great-great-grandmother, Si- 
lena Brockett. 

923 Silhouettes of Mr. and Mrs. 

Chauncey Chittenden. Made 
65 years ago. 



288 



924 



'J25 



" Bible History." New York, 
1814. Hclongcd to Rowcna 
Chittenden. 

Small Plate. Over 100 years 
old. Owned by Ammi Fow- 
ler's sister. 



LOANED liY HKNRY I'YNCIION KOI!- 
INSON. 

926 Red Velvet Side Saddle. Mrs. 

Content Robinson rode 
down from Durham on it, 
when a bride, March 29, 
1786. 

l.OANKl) liY MRS. KUGAR KOSSITKR 
OF NORTH GUILFORD. 

927 Wooden Bottle made by Sam- 

uel T. Loper. 100 3'ears old. 

1 OANKD 1!Y MRS. J. M. HUNT OF 
LEETE'S ISLAND. 

92S Pewter Basin. 

929 Pewter Platter. 

930 Child's Blanket and Cap. 



931 Child's Chair. Belonged to 

Horace Norton. 100 years 
old. 

932 Candlestick with homemade 

candle. 

933 Snuffers and Tray. 

934 Foot Stove. 

LOANED 1!Y MRS. JOHN L. SEWARD. 

935 Glass Mug. 

LOANED 1!Y YALE UNIVERSITY. 

()36 English and Hebrew Gram- 
mar, 2nd edition, by Samuel 
Johnson, D. D., London, 
1771. 

LOANED BY JOHN DUDLEY. 

937 Sermon on the Death of Rev. 

Thomas Riigglcs, Sr.," by 
Rev. Elisha Williams. 

938 Foot Stove. Containing Flat 

Iron. 

LOANED HV MRS. GEOKCE \V. HULL. 

939 Chesterfield's "Principles of 

Politeness," 1789, 



TREASURER'S REPORT. 



RECEIPTS. 



Order on Town Treasurer, - - $ 1,000 00 
Cash from H. L. Harrison, - 10 00 



EXPENSES. 



Bills paid Committee on Express and 

Transportation, - - - $38 00 

Bills paid Committee on Entertainment, 444 14 



Secretary, 



Invitations, 


27 


70 


Carriaojes, 


42 


00 


Music, 


150 


00 


Numbering Old 






Houses, 


5 


50 


Printing, 


1 1 


60 


Decorations, - 


T13 


75 


Reception, 


4 


92 


Relics, 


38 


37 


Procession, 


7 


00 


Publication, 


15 


00 


- 


1 1 


12 



$[,010 00 



909 10 



Balance to be returned to Town Treasurer, - $ 100 90 

L. R. ELLIOTT, Treasurer. 
Guilford, Conn., Oct. 14, 1889. 



aWr'32 



